Adagio
by Little Donkey
Summary: Sequel to Andante. Ritsu's quite perceptive when it comes to Mio, but she's still slow sometimes—maybe deliberately. MioxRitsu.
1. Lento, o lenta

**Title**: Adagio**  
Pairing(s)**: Mio/Ritsu – finally!**  
Rating**: T**  
Summary**: Sequel to Andante. Ritsu's quite perceptive when it comes to Mio, but she's still slow sometimes—maybe deliberately. MioxRitsu.**  
Chapters**: 3**  
Notes**: I normally don't add Japanese words into my fic unless they're honorifics or necessary for references but you won't get the double meaning if I don't explain: _Futsuu_ means 'normal' literally, and 'heterosexual' in slang. (_Da)kara_ would mean 'because'; or in the context of this fic, it's used to end a reason.

ooooo

**1.**

_**Lento **_

_O lenta_

Ritsu and Tsumugi stood outside the cake shop, which was located in front of the station, waiting for Mio. The bassist was currently in said shop, purchasing a chocolate cake that she'd loudly claimed was going to be shared equally at her household. Ritsu had snorted and smirked at her declaration, so now she was currently ignoring passers-by who tried not to stare too obviously at her swollen head.

"What's taking her so long," Ritsu complained to no one in particular.

Tsumugi scanned her surroundings in seeming awe, an action that grabbed a few people's attention—who assumed she was an exchange student—as they went about on their way. Some of whom were sharing an inside joke concerning foreigners amongst themselves.

After a minute, Ritsu tapped her foot against the pavement impatiently. Deciding to pay attention to their surroundings like Tsumugi, she turned her head from side to side listlessly, hoping to find some interesting people to watch—or ogle.

Their eyes settled almost simultaneously on a high school boy that had a guitar case on his back. Like the girls, he scanned his surroundings; then stopped as if he'd found what he was looking for, and ran up to another boy around his age. He raised a hand to greet him, "Yo, Ken."

Ken, who was leaning against an electric pole whilst staring blankly at the sky, looked over to where he was called. Recognition flashed in his eyes before irritation flooded it out. "Noriyuki. What the hell took you so long? I was freezing my ass off here."

Noriyuki scratched the back of his head sheepishly, the cheeky grin on his face negating the sincerity of his next sentence. "Sorry, got held up."

Tsumugi blinked when Noriyuki's back profile was turned to them, and noticed what was on his guitar case. "Oh, he has a rainbow coloured pin."

"Oh…?" Ritsu said distractedly, too busy checking out Ken from head to toe. She watched as he sighed and beckoned his friend to come over to him. Startled, Tsumugi turned to face Ritsu; an expression of slight surprise etched on her face.

"Eh? You don't know what it means?"

Ritsu pondered over Tsumugi's question, then turned to the blonde reluctantly and shook her head. She really had no idea.

That was, until Ken gave his 'friend' a clumsy, chaste kiss on the mouth.

Behind them the door swung open and Mio stepped out with a box in her hands; face somewhat flushed from the warmth inside. Startled by the accompanying chimes from the doorbell, the blonde and brunette spun around.

"Ah, sorry for taking so long, you guys!" Mio apologised. "Ar—why are your faces red?"

The two pointed, by darting their eyes towards the direction of the boys, and didn't elaborate.

Which wasn't needed, really, because the skin tone of Mio's face soon matched theirs.

ooo

_"I don't think it worked…"_

_"Really? Well, how did she react?"_

_"She got embarrassed and started to yell at me…and I even told her I'd put it in the mailbox."_

_"Hmm..."_

_"She went back to normal after that too. But, she was so distant before…like she was…"_

_"Daydreaming?"_

_"Yeah."_

_"…I think it worked, then. A little."_

_"Well, it could have been worse, I guess…"_

ooo

"So our bassist and keyboardist switch sometimes, huh…" Ritsu commented almost incoherently; a pen stuck above her top lip.

Mio, who had mastered the skill at understanding Ritsu during such times, immediately answered, "We are the ones that do most of the composing, so it's not going to be hard."

Tsumugi settled her empty cup of tea onto the table and nodded in agreement. "It's fun when you switch instruments time to time, isn't it?"

"Right."

"It's amazing how Mio-sempai and Tsumugi-sempai can play any of the two now," Azusa said admiringly.

"Yeah, it's amazing!" Yui chirped with a mouth full of cake.

"Not to mention, their studies aren't suffering," Azusa added. At that point, she directed a look at two certain band members.

Ritsu bristled. "Hey! I can play the harmonica too!"

"I know I can't play any other guitar 'sides Giita," Yui tried to explain herself. "But I can also play the—um—c-castanets?"

Azusa continued to stare at them indifferently.

Ritsu shifted her seat to the right, hooked her right arm around Azusa's neck and pulled. Azusa squeaked. Ritsu grinned evilly. "Harmonica is considered an instrument, yes, _Azusa-chan_?"

Azusa struggled against the hold on her, and gave up when it was obvious her senior wouldn't let go until she'd answered. "Y-yes, Ritsu-sempai."

Ritsu gave a pat on her head (which felt ominous to Azusa) before letting go. "Good girl."

"Ricchan!" Yui yelped in shock. "You should've made Azu-nyan say the castanet is also an instrument!"

Azusa glared at Yui, Mio took another sip of her tea and found it was lukewarm, Tsumugi tilted her head to the side with a lopsided smile. All three shared the similar thought:

_That's not what you should be complaining about… (!)_

Ritsu waved Yui's objection away. She got up from her seat and meandered towards the couch where their schoolbags were at. When she got there, she bent over and rummaged through her bag; getting up when she found what she was looking for. "Oh, my water bottle's empty," Ritsu realised.

Mio pushed her cup of tea away from her, lest she'd forget it was cold and drank it again, and sighed. "Use mine then," she offered.

However, Ritsu had already searched Mio's bag and found her bottle before she'd said anything. She twisted the cap off with a relish and tipped it to her dry lips.

When Ritsu gulped her fifth mouthful of water, Mio frowned at her. "Slow down would you?" she demanded. "Leave some for me, you know."

Ritsu continued to drink.

"Isn't that an indirect kiss, then?" Yui commented innocently.

Ritsu promptly choked. Mio had a sudden coughing fit.

"W-what are you on about, Yui?" Mio spluttered nervously; so nervous, in fact, that she unconsciously picked up her once neglected tea cup and gave a sip to calm her nerves. It took a while for her tastebuds to inform her of her grave mistake, and she refrained from doing a Ritsu—it's high quality tea, after all—and swallowed the bitter liquid down with great difficulty.

Ritsu wiped her mouth rashly and turned to the other brunette in the room. "Yeah! What are you on about?" she parroted loudly.

Yui giggled and didn't answer.

Azusa stared blankly. Tsumugi also stared. If she had been anyone else, she would've remarked a "Someone's in denial" in a sing-song voice.

Ritsu made an about turn. "Let's practise!"

Yui grimaced. "But it's so cold!"

ooo

_"Are you gonna try again?"_

_"…I don't know. She can be so thick sometimes."_

_"She probably notices, but she doesn't want to understand."_

_"That's worse…"_

_"She can't deny it forever."_

ooo

Mio slid the door to the side and, expectedly, found Ritsu staring at her TV. The speakers had white-noised her entrance, so she cleared her throat and greeted her. "Hey, Ritsu."

The called girl almost hit the roof. She spun around and gawked. "I didn't hear you!"

Mio smirked and nudged her chin towards the direction of the TV. "UVERworld, huh? Is that the DVD you told me you were gonna buy?"

"Yeah!" Ritsu patted on the spot next to her. "C'mere and watch! I'd just started it."

Mio slid the door behind her and took the seat. "I don't recognise the song, though…"

Ritsu picked up the DVD case from the coffee table and flipped it over to read the set list, squinting as she did so. "Ah, it's _Rinku_."

"_Rinku_…?" Mio echoed.

"Yeah. It's not in any of their singles or albums, though."

"Oh, no wonder."

They watched quietly as the vocalist finished _Rinku_ and begin a very short MC: "Today is the day our music will burst alive in the whole of Budokan!" This was accompanied by collective cheers and screams. The vocalist continued to speak, announcing the next song:

_"GEKIDOU is starting!"_

Mio and Ritsu sat in awe, hearts beating madly when several giant streams of smoke gushed towards the roof from the platform at the first note, and faded away. Several beats later, the smoke appeared and dispensed again.

Ritsu stared unseeingly, paying attention to the drummer and imagining herself in his place.

In her mind's eye: camerapersons would be scattered everywhere, recording their milestone. She'd be playing on a drum set larger than her own; and their band would be getting excellent sound systems to pump out their music, with thousands and thousands of their fans jumping and screaming to it. All the while, smoke would surround them ethereally…

_Ehehe, it would be SO epic_, Ritsu thought, rocking back and forth in glee.

Mio, on the other hand, immediately blanched when she imagined herself in place of the bassist. _He's really getting a lot of attention…_she thought in dismay. _And he doesn't even sing…!_

"Hey, hey," Ritsu suddenly piped up, nudging Mio on the shoulder. "Isn't Shintarou hot?"

"Eh?" Mio took another look at UVERworld's drummer. "Um, I guess so."

Ritsu raised a brow at her, noticing how her friend had fidgeted uncomfortably at the question. "Who do you think is the most good-looking out of the five, then?"

"Erm…Well, Nobuto's kind of cute."

"Isn't he? Do you know he says that he's left-handed?"

That got Mio's attention. "R-Really? !" She darted her eyes back to the TV screen. "Um…he's using a right handed bass there."

Ritsu waved it off, laughing. "Ah, he says he is but he actually isn't."

Mio deflated. "…Oh."

"Hey, hey, the next song's co—Hey! _Lasers_! Look! _Look!_"

"I'm looking, I'm looking," Mio complied, and then swayed her head to the side. _Those lasers __**are**__ cool-looking,_ she thought. Shifting her sight to the girl next to her, who was being gob smacked, she smiled in amusement and turned back to the TV.

About two-thirds in the song Mio felt her upper body pulled to the side, her hands being taken and held up. She looked down and saw a pair of hands covering hers, then she looked up and saw the owner, Ritsu, lean towards her with a stupid-looking grin. "Let's promise we'll make it to Budokan—for as long as we live, we have to work together and go for it!"

Mio arched an eyebrow. _She needs to see something like this to get this pumped up…?_

"Y-Yeah," she acquiesced whilst keeping in her laughter, all of a sudden she was finding the situation hilarious. In afterthought, she added in a deadpan tone, "And didn't we promise this last year?"

Ritsu tilted her head to the side, and tried to look innocent. "We did?"

_"Next song: Burst!"_

Mio smirked.

"Want me to burst your head until you remember?"

"N-no…thanks."

They continued to watch, with lavatory trips and snack searches in between. Sometimes Ritsu's brother would peek his head in and listen an odd favourite here and there before slipping away to his computer, unbeknownst to the girls. About an hour and half later, the screen faded to black.

Ritsu stood up and stretched. "That was one awesome live. Wish I was there."

Mio also stood up, but made for the DVD player to press its eject button. She knew Ritsu would forget and, later, panic when she couldn't find it. "Yeah. Makes you wanna practise more, right?" she asked almost rhetorically. Her question was filled with hints.

Ritsu scratched the back of her head nervously. "E…hehehe…Yeah, practise more. Right."

Fortunately for her (head), Mio gave a large yawn and wiped the tears from her eyes. "I think it's time for me to sleep now."

Ritsu also yawned—they were contagious, after all—smacking her lips lazily as she settled. "Yeah, I'm feeling sleepy too."

"Good, we can wake up early tomorrow."

Mio left the room and went back to the entranceway to collect the futon she'd brought. When Ritsu realised her friend wasn't heading to her bedroom and where she was going instead, she scampered out of the living room and called out, "Hey, Mio, isn't it too cold for you to sleep in that?"

Mio paused in her tracks and looked over her shoulder. "What else can I sleep in then?"

"Sleep in my bed," the brunette offered. "It'd be warmer."

"Your bed's small."

"Then it'd be even warmer!"

Mio gave her a dubious look.

"Oh, c'mon, we'd done it before. The bed isn't that small," Ritsu continued, pretending to look hurt. "Or am I really that unpleasant to sleep with?"

A pause.

Mio crossed her arms and considered her choices: Would she get the futon, and feel cold that she'd wake up in the middle of the night shivering; or, would she sleep in that cramped bed where it'd be warmer and let Ritsu take most of the blankets?

She added a few more pros and cons into the equation and came to a decision.

"Fine, but I'm taking the spot closest to the wall."

Ritsu blinked. "Why?"

"I don't want to wake up in the morning and find out I'm on the floor."

"Hey!"

"And what are we doing tomorrow? We have to—"

"Karaoke!"

"_Study _for the test on Monday."

"Yeah, study and then karaoke!" Ritsu clarified.

Mio sighed and continued her on way, needing to clear her belongings from the entranceway. She knew full well that Ritsu often had difficulty listing their activities in correct order.

The brunette hurried up the stairs.

Mio declined her head.

_Argh, I'm going to end up sleeping in tomorrow._

ooo

_"What did you guys do today?"_

_"Hours and hours of karaoke. Then __**someone**__ was too tired to study after—until I had to go home."_

_"I hope you may relax now."_

_"…heh. What did you do?"_

_"I'd done some study and a bit of practise. Let's hope we do well tomorrow."_

_"Let's."_

ooo

"Hmm…" Yui pondered loudly.

Ui pulled her eyes from the textbook to look at her sister. Like Ritsu (read: always), Yui needed help in order to pass her test, which explained why Ui was staying up, poring over a textbook meant for students a year older than her. "What's wrong, Onee-chan?" she asked.

"I'm wondering if Mio-chan's writing the new song at the moment."

Ui smiled. Yui was getting off track again. "I'm sure Mio-san is studying just like you are."

"I guess so!"

ooo

_"Hey, Ritsu~"_

_"Huh…? You sound weird, Mio."_

_"Really…? Hehe, c'mere, Ritsu."_

_"Why?"_

_"Lemme hug you."_

_"Hey, get off me."_

_"You're hugging me back, you know."_

_"I'm __**trying**__ to push you off right now…Geez, how strong are you? !"_

_"Ritsu's warm…"_

_"You're cold."_

_"Do something about it then…Ritsu."_

_"…Are you drunk or something?"_

_"Don't you like me?"_

_"Eh?"_

_"You don't love me anymore?"_

_"What are you—"_

_"Isn't it normal for us to do something like this? We are together after all."_

_"…__**What?**__"_

_"C'mon! Let's—"_

Consciousness and high frequency jolted Ritsu's mind into a groggy state. Her arm flew out from the covers and fumbled along the ground perfunctorily, looking for her phone. Turning off its alarm, she opened her eyes, blinked multiple times, and wondered if she should rest for a very short while and risk being late.

She then remembered that Mio would be peeved if she didn't turn up on time at the station.

It was after her brain had registered her friend's name, did it harshly recall the dream she'd just had.

Ritsu's eyes shot wide and she tried to sit up, only to find that her blankets were constricting her movements. Flinging them off, she tried again and succeeded. She tangled her hands in her hair in despair as she screamed:

"What the hell was that? !"

A loud thumping was heard in the next room. "Be quiet, Nee-chan!"

Satoshi's plea was ignored, or to be more exact: unheard, for Ritsu continued to mess with her hair as thoughts ran through her mind.

_Normal…? What, we're not even together. Must be some weird dream. A dream that doesn't mean a thing. I mean, I like her; but not in __**that**__ way. Yeah. Right? Right. Okay Ritsu, just do your thing and forget about it. Nothing happened. Nothing happened. Nothing at all._

And Ritsu did just that: she went and did her morning ablutions, changed into her school uniform, teased her brother, ate breakfast, picked on her brother and told the whole household she was going. By the time she left the house, she had completely forgotten about the dream.

When she got to the station, she quickly found Mio from the crowd and waved to her; she waved back. The usual. They went through the turnstiles and got into the right train. The usual. They picked a seat and sat down. The usual. The train started to move and then something not the usual happened.

Ritsu startled when something touched her right hand and slid underneath it. She looked down and saw the something—Mio's left hand—curled in hers. It was warm, too warm actually, Ritsu realised, and sweaty. She looked up and saw Mio was closer to her than she'd noticed.

"What are you doing?" Ritsu asked.

The grip seemed to loosen, the reply mumbled. "It's warmer this way."

It was. It was extremely uncomfortable, considering how deja-vu inducing this was getting. "Hey…we're nearly done with high school."

Mio stared at her, her face unreadable and her tone questionable. "Yeah, we are."

Ritsu was discombobulated. She looked over her shoulder anxiously. "I'm," she started, then looked back at Mio and stopped.

"You're…?" Mio prompted.

Ritsu's response fell into a mutter:

"_Futsuu dakara._"

A flash of surprise flitted across Mio's face as she stared. Then, she slipped her hand away and turned her line of sight towards the train doors. Ritsu looked at the opposite direction, ignoring how Mio would shift to the right every moment and so, and trying not to notice how she disappeared from her sight as more and more people clambered in from every station they stopped at.

They reached their stop and stepped out, and it was as if they were walking alongside with a stranger. Ritsu got stuck at the turnstile, Mio went ahead and didn't look back. They passed the cake shop; they ignored the opportunity, not wanting to break the muffling silence nor walk. They parted ways, there was no 'see you later'.

At the second level of their school building Ritsu watched Mio take a turn and disappear behind a wall inconspicuously, contemplating if six hours of classes would fix this—she didn't want to name it—_thing_.

ooo

The teacher for class 2-2 pinched her cheeks to make sure she was dreaming.

It hurt.

Classes had ended for the day and, amazingly, she wasn't feeling all stressed out as usual. Her throat wasn't dry nor was her voice cracked, her chalk duster hadn't been thrown across the room, and her class was assembling outside in an orderly fashion as if it they were all in one.

_Something is wrong,_ she concluded.

She was right: Tainaka Ritsu had been unnaturally quiet—sure, she still didn't pay attention, but at least she was quiet—and was now trudging behind a relatively loud Tsumugi and Yui towards the music room.

Ritsu was still competitive, though. Right now she was attempting to hold the world record of the slowest walk across a hallway. She would've succeeded, if Yui didn't turn around and realise how far away she was, ran up to her and snatched her hand to lead her on a brisker walk.

"Is something wrong, Ricchan?" Yui asked gently. "You're not feeling sick again, are you?"

Ritsu forced a grin. "No, it's nothing like that. Don't worry about it."

At the music room Ritsu continued her silence, her mind obviously elsewhere. Tsumugi and Yui shared a worried look and prepared their tea in equal quietness. If their club leader and friend didn't feel like sharing her problems, they would respect it.

Azusa stepped into the room, immediately felt the odd atmosphere, and settled onto her seat anxiously. When Tsumugi served her cup of tea and snack, she took them obediently and in appreciation. Persevering through the winter with an empty stomach is a no no, after all.

Yui was up to her second cake when a knock on the door was heard. The four members turned or looked simultaneously towards it and found an apologetic Nodoka standing before them.

"I came to tell you that Mio went home straight after."

The present four club members stared at her blankly.

Nodoka, after seeing such a lack of a reaction, repeated herself, in case they hadn't heard. "Mio went home just then."

This time, their expressions changed.

Ritsu was the first to reply—in her own way:

"Eh?"

Tsumugi's question wasn't as monosyllabic:

"What happened to Mio-chan?"

Nodoka repressed any signs of amusement—Yui wasn't the only one with slow reactions, she noticed—and answered, "She doesn't seem to feel well. Probably coming down with something."

Another delayed response, something the bespectacled girl had expected.

"Oh no," Yui finally gasped. "And we had a test today!"

Azusa's worries increased tenfold. She knew something was strange the second she'd entered the room. "Did she look all right during the test?"

Nodoka pondered before answering, "I think so. She started to feel ill after it. Must be the stress."

Tsumugi remained quiet, then her head jolted up as if she'd an epiphany and looked at Ritsu. Feeling someone's eyes on her, Ritsu turned towards the alleged source and found Tsumugi sipping her tea calmly with closed eyes.

"Oh!" Yui yelped in realisation, she whipped her head towards the other brunette. "Are you sure you're not feeling sick, Ricchan? You might've caught it from her."

Azusa and Nodoka also turned to her, and Ritsu felt overwhelmed from the sudden attention.

"I'm seriously fine, you guys!" she gesticulated, jumping up and down to prove her point. "See! I don't feel ill at all."

The three looked dubious. Nodoka, seeing it was none of her business—Ritsu really did look fine, health-wise, dropped it and prepared to make her leave.

"Well, I'm off now. You guys take care of yourselves."

"I'll see you later, Nodoka-chan!" Yui waved.

Ritsu crossed her arms and nodded to herself. _Yes, I'm fine. And this morning's just a side-effect or something from Mio's cold or whatever she's coming down. Yeah._

Ritsu's skill in denial received a level up.

Luckily, they still managed to practise for Tsumugi had brought her bass guitar. Thus, the keyboard was left alone. No further questions concerning Mio's sudden absence were asked, and the packing up after the practice was a quiet affair.

When Ritsu and Tsumugi waved goodbye and made their way towards the train station, Azusa turned to Yui. She had waited patiently until Ritsu had left, she'd forgotten that Tsumugi usually accompanied her. She would apologise to her later.

"Yui-sempai?" Azusa started.

"Hm…?" Yui hummed. Feeling very comfortable what with the scarves around her neck, she didn't bother turning to face her junior.

"Do you think Ritsu-sempai and Mio-sempai had another fight?"

"Oh. You think so, too, Azu-nyan?"

Azusa nodded and tried not to look surprised. _So Yui-sempai isn't that air-headed after all_, she realised. "Ritsu-sempai was sick a few months ago and they had a fight before it, so maybe…"

Yui didn't look worried. "Well, that means they'll make up soon then," she said confidently.

"But…"

This time, Yui turned to look at Azusa and smiled softly. "You don't need to worry about them, Azu-nyan. They'll be okay."

Yui was smart enough not to mention how long she thought it'd take for that to happen.

The next morning Ritsu munched on her slice of toast listlessly, staring unseeingly. On the other side of the table Satoshi, who was not used to having an exanimate sister, waved a hand in front of her repeatedly until his arm ached. He checked the time.

"Hey, Nee-chan!" he said loudly, kicking under the table and hoping it'd connect for good measure.

Ritsu jumped when her shin numbed painfully. "Itt—What was that for? !"

"You're going to be late," he informed her, pointing to the kitchen clock.

"Oh, you're right!" Stuffing the toast into her mouth—Satoshi cringed at the sight—she gathered up her bag and dashed off. "I'm going now!"

_What's wrong with her,_ Satoshi thought. _Whatever._

When Ritsu reached the station, she ploughed through the turnstiles and jumped through a set of doors that were sliding to a close. She neglected to scan through the crowds for a certain bassist, lest she'd be late. _She's probably still in bed, _Ritsu reasoned to herself as she grabbed a seat and collapsed, wheezing in cold air.

Little did she know that Mio was trying to be invisible, sitting in the carriage next to hers. She kept her head down and avoided eye contact with the people around her. Her hands were held together as if in a prayer, hoping that she'd manage to persuade the rest of the light music club to comply her upcoming request.

ooo

_"Before you ask anything, I don't want to talk about it."_

_"Okay. I was just wondering how you went on the test today."_

_"It went fine. How about you?"_

_"It was a bit difficult than I'd thought, but I managed."_

_"That's good…Hey?"_

_"Hm?"_

_"Can you try and convince Yui to practise first before the tea break? I want to leave as soon as possible, so…"_

_"I'll try."_

ooo

Ritsu exhaled evenly outside the music room. It had taken her eleven minutes and thirty-three seconds to reach here—Yui had obviously given up trying to drag her along in a more reasonable speed, and it was time to open the door.

At her third failed attempt, Ritsu had to stop and wonder why she was still standing outside like an idiot. There was nothing to be afraid of inside the room, Mio—her eyebrows floated up in realisation—should be at home resting, right?

Resolve renewed she took a deep breath, grinned, twisted the doorknob and pushed.

Mio was there.

Ritsu almost fell.

"Ah, Ritsu-sempai," Azusa piped up, acknowledging her noisy entry. "We were waiting for you."

Next to her stood Yui with her guitar already on the hand. "Mio-chan really wanted us to practise today, she looked like—"

"Yui," Mio interjected in a warning tone.

Ritsu took her spot at the drum set dazedly, and then remembered what had happened yesterday. She looked at Mio uneasily, and tried not to sound tentative. "Hey, Mio?"

Mio didn't look back, too busy adjusting her bass so it sat comfortably in her hands. "Hm?"

"I guess you're feeling better today, huh?"

"Un," was her curt reply.

It felt like the room's temperature went a few degrees lower. Even Yui didn't dare to make any of her blunt—dubbed as 'airheads power'—comments. Also, thankfully, Sawako wasn't there for untimely remarks.

They started the practice without the accompanying verbal countdown from Ritsu, who kicked the bass drum instead. She was not fond in breaking the silence via vocals this time round (nor the ones before). True to her word, when it was time for a tea break, Mio quickly packed up and left the room.

Tsumugi went to the tea cupboard and did her usual preparations almost rigidly. Azusa and Ritsu kept quiet at the table, the former refraining from criticism for errors that wouldn't have occurred if not for recent events. Out of the five, Yui was the only one that seemed to be her usual happy self, humming a tune that was familiar to them.

This happened again the next day and stopped on the day after that, for Sawako had returned.

When practice was finished and Mio had left, Sawako settled her second cup of tea onto the table and went straight to the point.

"Did something happen?" she asked.

All pairs of eyes save one were trained on a certain brunette. None tried to comment on the fact that their advisor actually did have some decency, considering her demanding nature.

Ritsu coughed into her fist before replying, "Not really, no."

Sawako's eyes narrowed. The other three stared down at their plates, knowing what was coming next. It didn't even last for a full minute, they sighed.

"You guys are ruining my quiet tea time!"

Ritsu tipped her head back and waved her away. Her shoulders were slumped. "Not my fault," she mumbled.

Sawako cupped a hand against her cheek dramatically, that they could almost see sparkling tears fall from her eyes. "Soon Mio-chan will leave like this every single day, attending cram school, finding new friends, and organising study sessions with them until she passes out."

"It didn't sound too bad until you mentioned she'll pass out," Azusa commented quietly.

Sawako slammed her hands on the table—causing porcelain cups and plates to jiggle dangerously near the edge, Azusa and Tsumugi immediately grabbed and stabilised them—and pointed at Ritsu. The classic objection pose.

"Become Mio-chan's plaything for a day and she'll forgive you!"

Ritsu gave Sawako a strong 'Are-you-kidding-me?' look.

"Why am I getting a deja-vu here?" Yui wondered aloud.

Ritsu swerved her head to Yui. Tsumugi slightly cringed at the prospect that their drummer might soon suffer whiplash.

"What do you mean, Yui?" Ritsu said carefully.

Yui, who had been trying to figure out why this scene felt familiar, widened her eyes in enlightenment. She slapped a fist against a palm. "Oh, I remember now! Sawa-chan said the same thing to Mio-chan when we thought Ricchan was feeling lonely!"

Ritsu stared at her in horror, trying to withhold the blood away from her cheeks. "…_What?_" she gasped.

"Sawa-chan said Mio-chan should be your plaything for the day, you know. Maybe with the cat ears on and some—"

Ritsu gesticulated frantically, trying to stop Yui's line of speech. "I _got_ that! I got that! I didn't ask for that, damnit!"

Yui blinked, and leaned her head to the side (almost slyly). "You aren't imagining lewd things about Mio-chan, are you?"

Ritsu blushed madly.


	2. Moderato, o moderata

**2.**

_**Moderato**_

_O__ moderata_

Ritsu jumped out of her bed with wide eyes, heavy panting, and a madly beating heart. Unlike Monday morning, she immediately and vaguely recalled the dream she'd just had; and also unlike that morning, her mind seemed to only take one-worded thoughts at a time:

_Me. __Mio. Naked. Touching. What._

The alarm on her phone continued its imperative shrill.

Ritsu jumped again as if she'd just heard it, and then fell to her knees and searched blindly for the phone. She found it quickly, but it took her a long moment to turn it off for her fingers shook violently. When she was finally able to, Ritsu gave the phone a mixed look—not sure if she should be frustrated with it or kiss it happily.

_You're awesome and that, but—wh__y did you ring, huh? !_

The phone stared back at her.

_...Damnit!_

Ritsu fell forward and proceeded to hammer the floor wildly with clenched fists.

_I'm going crazy!__ I'm going crazy! I'm going crazy!_

After a thoroughly cold shower and a brief hot one (she would wash her hair later), Ritsu crept into the kitchen—being self-effacing. She knew it was fruitless when an unnatural clearing of the throat was made, forcing her to turn and face her mother meekly. Ms Tainaka was sitting at the dining table with a cup of coffee and the day's paper in front of her; she was not sipping the beverage or reading the front page, instead she was drumming her fingers on said furniture in a tempo that hinted rough vocals would soon replace it.

"Ah, morning, Mum," greeted Ritsu hopefully; her voice was obsequious. "Lovely weather, isn't it?"

Ms Tainaka was not amused. The drumming stopped. "What the heck was that racket you were making on this, as you say, _lovely morning_?" she demanded.

Ritsu made a show at recalling the event.

"…Ah, that!" Ritsu clapped her hands together in seeming glee. "I stubbed my toe against the table, and it was really painful! So, I did a spinning roll! And you know what? I hit the table again—"

"And decided to lie all the way to Hokkaido with her mother? Yes, I see."

Ritsu looked aghast. "Me? Lie?"

Ms Tainaka stared down at her—quite a feat considering she was seated whilst her daughter stood. "Ritsu, I gave birth to you."

"Oh, really," Ritsu deadpanned.

Her mother ignored her tone, and glanced at the items on the table. "Oh, goodness, your breakfast's cold now. Go and eat." She shifted her position on her chair, picked up the daily paper and ruffled it out before reading it.

Ritsu dragged herself to the seat placed diagonally across her mother—just in case Ms Tainaka took a leaf out of her son's book—and placed her schoolbag onto the ground. "And whose fault is that," she mumbled.

"What is that?"

"Nothing."

"If you make another racket again, the drums are out."

Ritsu inadvertently sneezed in response.

Ms Tainaka sighed, threw the paper onto the table, and gave her daughter a pointed look. "You're not sick again are you?"

Ritsu reached for a tissue and blew her nose. "No," she replied, her voice squeaking from a temporary blocked nasal way.

"Well, there's only a week or so left. Unlike last time: getting a cold a fortnight before exams."

_Yes, pretend the __school festival didn't exist,_ Ritsu thought, not daring to say it out loud. She gave a grunt instead, and picked up a toast and some spread.

"And Mio had to come over and cheer you up. You two are like a married couple."

Ritsu almost dropped the toast.

"Just remember you're nearly finished with high school, okay?" Ms Tainaka continued. "You need to start thinking in how to make yourself valuable to society."

Ritsu tried to be sanguine as she answered, "Yeah, yeah. I need to know which university to go to and what course to do."

Ms Tainaka gave a significant stare at her daughter. "Not just that," she said slowly. Her clear enunciation was expressing a layer of gravity in her point, a point she wanted her daughter to consider seriously at.

Ritsu repressed the urge to squirm under her mother's scrutiny. Giving all her attention in spreading some jam on her toast, she continued the act of blitheness. "Yeah, yeah. Get married and bear your grandchildren. Right."

"Right," Ms Tainaka agreed readily, sipping her coffee. "Stop messing around with this music business and grow up already."

Ritsu held the toast in her mouth, grabbed her bag and stood up. "I'm going now!"

Ms Tainaka frowned at her impromptu announcement, but let it slide for now. She raised a hand and waved. "Okay, take care."

Ritsu waved back perfunctorily. It was until she left the house did she let the act fall, her shoulders slumping.

_Grow up, huh…__I wish I could._

She watched a group of kids play a game of ball outside her neighbour's house.

…_As if!_

Shaking her head, she took the toast out of her mouth, pasted a smile on her face and munched on her breakfast, hoping the morning wouldn't get any worse when she reached the train station.

Unfortunately for her, the first person her eyes fell on when she entered the building was none other than Akiyama Mio. Who somehow felt her presence, and turned her way with rosy cheeks. Her face was flushed from the warmth of her scarves.

Ritsu blinked, and stood rooted to the spot for a full three seconds, then did an about turn and ran.

She was late to school.

ooo

At the sound of footsteps coming from the classroom door, Nodoka looked up from her desk and towards the source. Recognising the newcomer, she gave a friendly greeting:

"Morning, Mio."

Mio forced a small smile, and placed her bag on top of her desk with an audible thud. Sighing heavily, she sat down and attempted to pull off a carefree face.

"Morning."

Nodoka's lips tightened together in worry: it was obvious Mio had a bad start to the day.

"Should I ask?" Nodoka ventured tentatively.

Mio grimaced and hesitated. Nodoka could see that it was the type of hesitation over what to say versus what not to say. She waited patiently, ready to give a shoulder if needed.

"It's just that, I thought I might try and say 'hello' this time…Since I was…to…ni…kaku," Mio mumbled. Her hesitation drifted towards the reluctance side each time one of their classmates clambered into the room, the last few syllables might've construed actual words. She took a deep breath and gave a small smile. "Actually, it's nothing," she added in an apologetic tone.

Nodoka nodded understandably, gave a greeting to a passing classmate and swept a hand towards the notes on her desk. "How's the homework?"

Mio's smile looked more genuine at the pleasant subject change. "Ah, it's the usual; the last question took a while to figure out, though."

"Isn't it? It took me half an hour for me to realise I was doing it wrong."

"Really? Me too!"

The classmate that had shortly conversed with Nodoka perked her ears. She got up from her seat hastily and dashed over to Nodoka's and Mio's desk. "Nodoka-san…" she started.

Nodoka turned to her. "Yes, Satomi?"

Satomi clapped her hands together and gave a short bow. "Can I please borrow your notes?"

"Did you do your homework at the last minute again, Satou-san?"

Nodoka wasn't the one who asked that. It came from behind Satomi.

Satomi jumped and twisted her body in a full one-eighty, gawking at the direction of the door, where their teacher had stood quietly since her entry that took place about a minute ago, and was looking displeased.

Satomi smiled crookedly. "No, no. Not at all, Hikasa-sensei."

At her last word, she dashed back to her seat.

Hikasa's gaze swept from one side of the room to the other, causing many of her students to straighten their backs and the whole class to quieten. Taking the clipboard under her arm, she laid it down on her table and began homeroom period.

"Akiyama Mio," she called.

Mio raised her hand. "Here."

"Kotobuki Minako."

"Here."

"Satou Satomi—"

Satomi raised her hand. "Here."

"—is obviously here," Hikasa finished harmoniously, as if she hadn't been interrupted at all.

Most of the class stifled their amusement. Mio looked over her shoulder and watched Satomi lower herself on her seat in embarrassment.

_She's a bit like Ritsu__,_ Mio mused. After she was aware that the brunette popped in her mind yet again, she spun back to the front sharply and cursed mentally.

_Geez, w__hy can't I stop thinking about her!_

Mio clenched her fists, and made an effort in paying attention to her teacher, doing anything to keep her thoughts drifting over to a certain individual.

"…Toyosaki Aki."

"Here."

"Nakamura Tomoko."

"Here!"

"Fujitou Chika."

"Here."

When Hikasa was about to call out the next student on the roster, a ruckus was heard from outside:

"Tainaka-san! No running in the hallways!"

"Sorry Sawa-chan! I'm gonna be late."

"You're late already!"

Hikasa's eye twitched as the room was filled with raucous laughter.

"Manabe Nodoka," she continued. Her voice was a couple of dozen decibels louder and a tad stressed.

Nodoka's reply was obscured by a rare fit of giggles. "Here!"

Mio flipped through her notes, desperately finding another way to distract herself.

ooo

"Are you sure you're all right, Ricchan?" Yui asked in concern when Ritsu sneezed for the second time in the last hour. Tsumugi had asked the same question during homeroom and was now deliberating if she, along with Azusa's and Yui's help, should drag the drummer to the nurse's office.

Ritsu took another moment to wipe her nose with her handkerchief. "Yeah, I'm sure."

"But…"

"Don't worry about it. It'll only last a day."

Yui stilled. "…A day?" she echoed.

"A day," Ritsu clarified.

Like Yui, Azusa and Tsumugi were confused at Ritsu's certainty.

"Why are you so sure?" Azusa asked.

Ritsu raised her forefinger to the air and gave a lopsided grin, looking as if the explanation she was going to give was ingenious. "Well, for some reason there wasn't any hot water this morning!"

Azusa looked at Ritsu with half-lidded eyes. "And you still took a shower, didn't you?"

Yui gasped. "You shouldn't have!"

Tsumugi was not convinced, which was apparent by how her eyebrows were raised. However she didn't comment, fearing her speculation was embarrassingly wrong. Moreover, she was more worried about how Mio's snubbing towards the brunette had grown. She had kept her nose out of their business since a few days ago but standing on the sidelines, and watching their friendship fall apart, was agonising.

"Geez, Ritsu-sempai," Azusa complained. "Are you crazy?"

When Ritsu suddenly roared with laughter, the three gave each other mutual, bewildered glances.

Wiping a tear from one eye, Ritsu stood up. "Okay, I'll go home then. I'll see you guys tomorrow."

"Okay! See you and take care," Yui said with a wave before turning to the keyboardist. "Seconds, Mugi-chan!"

"I guess that means I have to stay," Tsumugi said, smiling.

Ritsu nodded and looked at Azusa expectedly, who fumbled with her answer. "I-I'll stay too, because, um, I-I might practise again soon."

Ritsu grinned, reached a hand out and patted her junior on the head. "Aww, be honest," she cooed.

This time Ritsu failed to see the irony and continued to as she left the music room, the block building and then the school grounds. Humming a vaguely familiar song as she trotted to the train station with hands deep in her coat pockets, it would seem to an outsider that she was absolutely free from worries—a notion that Ritsu would've liked to agree as she stepped onto the platform.

Similar to this morning, the first person Ritsu saw was Mio—except she was accompanied by two other girls in school uniforms different to theirs. Ritsu didn't recognise them and apparently, neither did Mio. Checking to see if their train was coming—which it was—Ritsu rounded back to the three girls and tried to make out what was happening.

One of unknown girls leaned forward and asked in an unfriendly tone, "You're from Sakuragaoka, huh?"

Mio didn't answer, and made a good show at pretending they hadn't said anything. She knew she really had to get a move on but didn't know how to without the two following. Inconspicuously, she glanced ahead at where her train was stationed. The two girls had their backs faced to it, and Mio hoped they didn't share the same line.

The one who'd questioned quirked a brow, straightened up and raised her chin, trying to look intimidating. Which was futile for Mio was a good few inches higher in height.

"Heh…Doesn't that school teach you manners, girl?"

The second girl was a head taller and towered over her friend and Mio. She nudged her friend. "She's not gonna talk, Rei," she stated the obvious, pointing crudely at Mio. "Probably thinks she's all high and shit."

Before Rei was able to make a snide reply Ritsu ran in between and gave the two girls a strong shove, causing them to stumble a few steps sideways and fall heavily onto a crowd of people. Sounds of quick footsteps and loud gratings followed the encounter.

Rei and her friend picked themselves up, checked for injuries, apologised repeatedly to the people they'd fell onto, turned around and found that Mio was gone.

…and the train they were going to catch.

Rei raised a fist towards the disappearing vehicle, shook it viciously, and proceeded to scream incoherent strings of words that might've been expletives. Her friend stood beside her, still recovering from bumping into an irritated tourist.

On the train Ritsu pulled Mio's wrist in order to lead her to an empty seat for two, but found she was being pulled back, instead, and nearly fell from the abrupt change of momentum. Balancing herself, Ritsu looked over her shoulder and glared.

A glare which soon withered when she realised Mio had tears in her eyes.

"H-hey, Mio," Ritsu started to say.

"What are you planning?" Mio interrupted her as she sniffed, trying to keep the tears from falling. "First you avoid me and now you defend me? I don't get you."

"Avoid you? When—" Ritsu stopped herself when she recalled this morning's events. "Oh, that."

Danger bells rang in Ritsu's mind when she saw Mio's jaw set, her eyes narrowed.

"Yes, _that_."

"Uh…" Ritsu darted her eyes from side to side as if she was thinking of a best way to answer, and settled for the coy look and her trademark wink. "I'm sorry?"

Mio glowered, pivoted on her heel with a harrumph and stomped her way through the crowd for the next carriage (and Ritsu swore she heard her mutter 'I hate you'). Looking around, Ritsu saw a couple of hastily turned heads—nearby passengers trying to cope with temporary boredom—and shrugged.

She ignored the small twinge in her chest; more preoccupied by something she had thought heatedly when she defended Mio:

_No one's going to hurt her 'cause I love her!_

Ritsu tried to rationalise that thought process: blaming heavily on the excessive amount of dramas she had watched over at Mio's house and her odd timing of chivalry. It didn't work; the line kept on repeating over and over like a mantra, unable to be defied or forgotten. Eventually she gave up and hung her head, too mentally exhausted for self-denial.

When she reached home, and inevitably, her room, Ritsu dropped her bag and herself onto the bed. Digging her head under a pillow, she stayed there until lack of oxygen made her move and sit up. She looked around the room with half-opened eyes, feeling restless and not knowing what to do for the rest of the day (that didn't involve homework).

Her eyes locked on a bundle of CDs lying on top of her table. Scampering off the bed, she reached for several of them and flipped over each one until one caught her eye and ear for a listen.

A particular one she didn't remember buying made her pause. She read the cover:

"…_'YUI. CAN'T BUY MY LOVE.'_"

Ritsu gagged. "Yeah, I'm sure I didn't buy this. Must be Mio's."

Apparently she'd forgotten to return it.

_I guess I should give it back__ now, _Ritsu thought as she slipped the CD into her school bag.

…_Maybe I should apologise __again._

ooo

"Where's Ricchan?"

Tsumugi, who was unpacking her lunchbox, looked up to face Yui. The three usually sat at Tsumugi's desk during lunch break with Yui at the opposite end, and Ritsu would bring her chair to sit on either side.

"Oh, she said she was going somewhere for a bit," the blonde recalled.

Yui sniggered and took a bite of her meat bun, managing to say in between munches, "She's probably off to see Mio-chan."

Ritsu was becoming extremely transparent.

As Yui had said, Ritsu was standing outside classroom 2-1. Standing, because Ritsu was desultory as usual and, thus, needed to have a think of what to say when she entered the room. She knew announcing her purpose loudly wouldn't bring spectacular results, perhaps a spectacular bruise on the head but not the results she desired.

She took a peek inside the classroom and found Mio eating her lunch at her table with Nodoka on the other side. The latter must've said something genuinely amusing, because Mio laughed with a smile that reached her eyes.

Ritsu ignored the jealously that was unwinding deep in her stomach. She couldn't do a thing about it this time, but suck it up and live with it. _It __**is**__ my fault_, she mentally groaned. _Now Nodoka's taking up my spot, and Mio's going home early every day_—Ritsu stopped her self-pitying and back-tracked.

_Wait, w__hy __**was**__ Mio still at the station yesterday?_

After two seconds of ruminating over that question Ritsu shook her head, trying to snap out of it. She decided that thinking too much really wasn't her style and, not to mention, it was giving her a headache. Stepping forward, Ritsu swung the door wide, opened her mouth, saw a few heads turn to her and backed out.

The hasty trip back to her room consisted many self-deprecating curses along the way.

_It's__ okay, it's okay, _Ritsu told herself. _I've got another chance this afternoon_.

She brought her chair next to Tsumugi's desk, sat down and finished her lunch. Tsumugi and Yui looked at her expectantly, but they didn't receive any answers to their unspoken questions. They had the decency to not intrude into Ritsu's thoughts, unlike their teacher who (quite rightfully) demanded multiple times on why Ritsu's doodles on various notebooks consisted of umbrellas and many kanji that stood for waterway or law.

Ritsu took no heed to her teacher and her classmates' sniggers, focusing more on calling back that courage that had so often accompanied her. She continued to doodle whilst doing so, two particular tasks she could do at the same time.

When the lesson ended for the day Ritsu jumped up from her seat, closed her notebooks and slipped them carelessly into her bag. Leaving the bag unzipped, she bowed quickly to the teacher and bolted. Tsumugi and Yui followed, not wanting to miss what was going to happen, leaving their teacher heavily disgruntled.

At the second floor, Ritsu stumbled into the music room without preamble and moved towards Mio. Who backed away and looked uneasily at her. Tsumugi and Yui dashed after Ritsu and joined Azusa at the sidelines. There, they stood and watched in anticipation.

Ritsu took a deep breath and prepared to speak.

"Mio," she began.

The bassist felt her eyebrows ascend, for Ritsu was looking quite serious.

"What?" Mio asked warily.

Ritsu gave a small smile, taking a moment to pat herself on the back proverbially. _We're actually talking! Normally!_

Mio, on the other hand, was agitated by the brunette's abrupt silence. She repeated her question with more emphasis. "_What_?"

"I…" Ritsu began again. "…Uh, what _am_ I supposed to tell you?" she added in a mutter, more to herself than anyone.

The audience nearly fell in an exaggerated fashion, and Mio almost joined them. Instead, she bristled and looked the other way resolutely. "How the hell would I know?" she uttered angrily.

Ritsu panicked and felt her knees buckle. She held her hands out with palms up as if in substitute for an apologetic bow. "I-It was something _really_ important…I think."

"Well then," Mio snapped, crossing her arms, "come back when you remember!"

At that note, Mio grabbed her bag and guitar case hastily and ran out of the room. The door shut loudly after her, sounding as if it was there to punctuate her statement with more finality. Ritsu didn't run after her. She knew from that tone that Mio was close to tears (again), and coming after Mio with a mind that was stubbornly blank was only going to make it worse.

Azusa gave a strained clearing of the throat. "I…guess we're not going to practise today…"

Ritsu stood up and nodded dully. "Yeah, today's practice is cancelled."

Azusa gave a nod—which was unseen to whom it mattered most—and left the room quietly, Tsumugi and Yui following suit. They had a feeling they needed to give Ritsu some space after her latest fiasco; the brunette took the courtesy half-heartedly, wiping a few frustrated tears that managed to leak out.

At home Ritsu opened her bag and found Mio's CD lying at the bottom, and almost introduced her head to her bedroom table. She lamented on how her mind must be programmed to reject all activities related to such titles—not that she wanted to be programmed the reverse, and never mind the love-sick induced scribbles she had done hours ago.

Ritsu glared at the cover of the CD as if it was at fault, and discovered belatedly—much to her dismay—that the artist was highly aesthetically pleasing.

_Must be the guitar_, Ritsu told herself mentally. _A guitar makes anyone look good. Even Mio looks really good when she's on the bass…_

Ritsu tried to save herself from falling face first and failed. In the next room, Satoshi feared that his sister had decided to use the furniture as a snare drum again. After a few considering moments, he shrugged it off.

Meanwhile, Ritsu rubbed her pulsing forehead as she continued to glare heatedly at the CD cover for a very long time.

_W__hy the corny title?_ Ritsu criticised, having determined it was safer to analyse the finer points of the cover art. _Of course love can't be bought. I'm broke, anyway. Only love-sick idiots listen to such things._

She ended up inserting the disc into her CD player.

The first song, called 'How crazy', was greatly relatable. That song was on repeat for a while. The hooks were addictive—as it should be. She also emphasised with the second, third and, even, the fourth song; never mind that she didn't own a guitar and that the singer loved making references to it.

Suddenly she sat up, fished for her phone and speed dialled Tsumugi's number. Her head nodded to the beat of the music as she waited for the blonde to pick up. When Tsumugi did, Ritsu jerked her head towards the CD player and turned it off in reconsideration.

"Hello? Is something wrong, Ricchan?"

"Ah, Mugi, I have a favour to ask of you!"

"What is it?"

Ritsu received another epiphany and back-pedalled. "Ah, first, I need to tell you that all practices are cancelled until winter break."

There was a long pause on the other end until:

"Ehh! W-what happened, Ricchan?"

"It's a long story," Ritsu quickly explained, waving it off even though she knew the gesture wouldn't be seen. "And don't worry, I'll tell the others later. Anyway, about the favour…"

ooo

"Eh? !" Yui exclaimed into the phone transmitter when she received the news. "W-what about the tea breaks?"

Judging from the muffled yell that came from the receiver, Ritsu meant it when she said she'd contact everyone with the latest club news. Ui kept one eye on her sister, and the other on the TV, trying to listen in their conversation with clairaudience. She then blushed at her eavesdropping and stopped.

Yui gave a long sigh. "I guess you're right," she relented.

There was another muffled yell on the other side.

"And you make up with Mio-chan!" Yui added before hanging up.

Pretending she hadn't heard a thing, Ui gave Yui a questionable look.

"Ui," Yui started, sugar-coating her words. "Can you start making sweets after school again? Pleaseee?"

Ui beamed. "Of course, Onee-chan!" she obeyed without question.

ooo

Azusa was strangely accordant with the announcement, Ritsu thought she'd heard it wrong. She chose to ask for good measure:

"Er, I didn't hear you there. Say again?"

_"I said __'Okay'. There is only a week left. Oh, and Ritsu-sempai?"_

"Yeah?"

Ritsu could almost hear Azusa blush.

_"Make up with Mio-sempai, please."_

Like Yui's, the call ended there.

"Grr," Ritsu growled.

ooo

Mio looked up from the notebook that contained snippets of lyrics (and drawings done by Ritsu and Yui) and stared at her blinking and vibrating phone. _A mail_, she realised. Picking the phone up, she flipped it open and read said missive, trying not to feel disheartened from her current activity when she finished.

Ultimately, the page she was writing on was scrapped and thrown into the waste bin. The last thing she needed was writing another page of lyrics with a certain brunette in mind and, later, be 'criticised' heavily by the same brunette.

_Stupid Ritsu…_

ooo

Hirasawa Ui shuffled around in the kitchen, searching for a few mandarins to sate her older sister's current needs. She found an orange instead, and, taking the fruit with her and a paring knife, she settled for that. Her sister agreed on her wise choice by nibbling on a cut slice happily, leaving a wide grin on Ui's face.

"I wonder if everyone'll make it this time," Yui pondered aloud.

Ui peeled off another slice and brought it to Yui's mouth, who took it quickly. "Make it for what, Onee-chan?" she asked.

"Hotpot!" Yui yelped. "For Christmas!"

"Ah…that'd be nice. Why don't you mail them?"

Yui had already started in sending the invitations, and was up to Tsumugi. After that one was mailed, her thumb hovered over the button that would confirm the mail was, also, to be sent to Ritsu. A second of inner debate later, she shrugged and pressed the button.

"By the way, Onee-chan," Ui went on, "what kind of sweets do you want me to make tomorrow?"

Yui placed her phone onto the table and started to engross herself in keeping her guitar nice and cosy under the kotatsu. "Huh? The usual, I guess? Oh, and remember to put some strawberries in it—and maybe some whipped cream and…" Yui continued to list off several more ingredients she wanted in her snack.

Ui nodded at each specification and mentally jotted them down. Vetoing any that would clash horribly with another, she tagged a plausible excuse on them if Yui was to find out—which she probably would.

Yui's phone danced on the table, breaking its owner's line of speech. Giving Giita a few more comforting pats, Yui whirled around, snatched the phone off the table and flipped it open.

"Ah, Azu-nyan's free!"

The phone buzzed again; Yui beamed. "So is Nodoka-chan and Mugi-chan!" she squealed.

Ui grinned. "That's great, Onee-chan!"

"Let's ask them what kind of hotpot they want!" Yui suggested. She read off the options as she typed them. "Chocolate curry hotpot or pocky strawberry milk hotpot?"

Ui didn't dare object, knowing full well that the others would do the job for her.

Azusa replied with the predictable 'Please stop making up weird recipes!'; Yui felt a little downhearted. Nodoka and Tsumugi were silent for quite awhile, so Ui changed the channel, replacing one variety show with another. Ui and Giita watched one of the comedians smack the other with the back of his hand. Whilst Yui carried the latter in her lap, making sure Giita had gotten a better view than her. The three laughed along, and Yui would strum Giita a few times to imitate human laughter.

For the Hirasawa family, it was an entertaining night.

When it was bed time and Yui had crawled into bed, she received another buzz from her phone. Making sure the thick blanket covered her and Giita from neck to toe (if Giita had any toes), Yui flipped the phone open once again and read the messages out loud:

_S__orry! I had my headphones on so I didn't hear my phone ring! I'll go._

_I'll go, I'll go! Sorrry for the late reply, I was listening to music!_

Yui blinked multiple times, and then giggled.


	3. Allegro, od allegra

**3.**

_**Allegro **_

_Od allegra_

The last week of school passed uneventfully. There were no more practices, nor exams, for the rest of the semester, and Yui had consumed her daily sweets without a complaint—much to Ui's relief. Then Christmas Eve rolled by, filling the Hirasawa house with many people, food and shared joy.

Hovering over the hotpot, Yui waited for the broth to bubble. In her hand was a pair of chopsticks that held a leaf of cabbage, which looked as though it was sweating.

"Onee-chan, your face will get burnt," Ui yelped. She pulled Yui back firmly but gently into her seat.

Azusa glanced over at the Hirasawa siblings, then to Mio and Nodoka who were conversing about something related to school, and lastly, to a contented Tsumugi. Sighing at nothing in particular, Azusa poked at the plate full of raw meat with her own pair of chopsticks.

"It's _really_ taking a long time, isn't it?"

Yui blinked; surprised that someone had taken the words out of her mouth. Nodoka and Ui also blinked, but they were not alarmed. On the other hand, both Azusa and Mio froze when they recognised the lethargic voice.

"Ah, Sawako-sensei, I'm glad that you could make it," Tsumugi exclaimed. That was a bit of a white lie considering the advisor wasn't invited, again, but Tsumugi was Tsumugi, and she was polite.

Azusa and Mio made a choked whimper. When Sawako looked at them with her predatory eyes, the two band members hid behind Nodoka. Sawako grinned evilly at their reaction, and shifted her attention to the girl before them; Nodoka received a nervous tick. Delaying in making their worst fears come to life, Sawako pushed her glasses up and scanned the room. "Where's Ricchan?" she enquired. It was a question that was on most minds but was, up to that point, never voiced.

"She has the flu so she couldn't come," Tsumugi replied without forethought, preoccupied in dipping a piece of tofu into the now steaming pot.

Mio startled. "Eh? How do you know?" she asked.

"Eh—um, _well_," Tsumugi looked badly shaken as she tried to fetch an answer. In her fumbling, the tofu she held slipped and fell. "Ah, I called her yesterday and she told me then," she finished unconvincingly.

"You called her yesterday, and she told you then," Mio repeated slowly.

Tsumugi's eyes were shifty.

Mio frowned and continued, "Why would she get sick all of a sudden…?"

Dropping the leaf of cabbage into the hotpot, Yui turned to the others and suggested, "Maybe it's 'cause of the cold showers."

It took a moment for the suggestion to register into Mio's brain. When it did, she whipped towards Yui with wide eyes.

Nodoka raised an eyebrow. "There's no gas at her house?"

Yui didn't look at Mio when she answered a cheerful, "Yeah, I think."

Nodoka and Tsumugi caught Mio's flustered expression easily. A giggle burst out of the latter, forcing her to cover it up as an abrupt cough. Whilst the former empathised one of the emotions Mio was feeling: embarrassment, causing her to look pointedly at the hotpot and, in afterthought, drop several eggs in. Finding the piece of tofu Tsumugi had thrown in to be cooked, she scooped it out and placed it into the blonde's bowl in courtesy. Tsumugi thanked her.

"It's been about two weeks," Azusa pointed out, "the gas should've been back already." As if to emphasise her argument, she dropped in a few slices of meat into the pot. Sawako arched over, took out an egg that she deemed to be cooked and bit into it. She didn't hear Ui's warning cries until it was too late.

Ui rushed over to Sawako and tried to hush her from an impending tantrum.

Shaking out of her reverie, Mio turned to question Tsumugi and ignored the hullabaloo at the other side of the table. "When did she get the flu?"

Tsumugi was waving before her open mouth frantically, having taken the tofu by the mouthful as soon as she had received it. Mio waited patiently.

"Ah, that was hot. Um, ah, about a few days ago, I think?"

"A few days ago…."

"Yes," Tsumugi clarified, giggling, "When I heard her I'd thought it was her brother…."

Mio found the humour in Tsumugi's statement and laughed along for a bit. "Ah geez," she breathed out, "she had the cold a while ago, too." Rummaging through the pot with her utensils, she found a nicely cooked vegetable and picked it into her bowl. Yui was talking to Ui during that time, but the move was not unseen due to her peripherals.

"Mio-chan!" Yui cried, swinging around wildly and almost knocking Ui out in the process.

"Eh?"

"Is that my cabbage? !" Yui wailed. After a second's hesitation, Yui seized the item from Mio's bowl and dumped it into hers in the speed of light.

Mio's eye twitched. "…You sure love your cabbage."

Despite the heat, Yui slurped up the vegetable and swallowed it easily. She grinned. "It's because cabbage is tasty!"

Mio's eye twitched again, but for a decidedly different reason.

For the rest of the meal, Mio didn't touch another piece of cabbage. She opted for the tofu instead, sharing it with Tsumugi. When Azusa and Nodoka noticed how specific Mio's choices were getting, they placed a couple of eggs and meat to make her bowl less plain. That left Yui to battle against only Sawako for the cabbages, and the latter lost sorely. Ui was a force to be reckoned with when her sister was in trouble.

Sawako was not pleased.

As the night and Sawako's depression wore on, it soon became evident that Azusa and Mio's worst fears would arise. After many screams, scuffles and encouraging squeals from the sidelines, the two girls stood in the centre of the room with eyes trained on the floor.

Yui beamed. Her sister had left the room silently during the dressing up proceedings, allowing her to pounce towards them without much restraint. Mio, seeing a dark shadow falling upon her, sidestepped just in time. Her fellow band member didn't react quickly enough. The two guitarists fell down with a thump.

Azusa adjusted the strap on her Santa costume, which had fallen and was revealing too much skin for her taste, and pushed Yui off her half-heartedly. "Yui-sempai, you're squashing me."

The protest went unheeded. "Hehehe, Azu-nyan's so adorable."

"…Geez."

Sawako crossed her arms proudly, her eyes landing on Nodoka. Nodoka stood up quickly and excused herself for the lavatory.

There was a flash, and Mio's head swung around to look for the source. She blinked and stared. Tsumugi stared back innocently. It eventually led into a standoff and Mio sighed, lamenting on how she was never good at accusing people.

_"She has the flu so she couldn't come…."_

Mio frowned and sat down, not noticing there were further flashes of light. When Tsumugi realised Mio was in another world, she pocketed the camera and sat down next to her. She made sure they would be on the same eye level before she whispered, "I'm sorry."

Mio made a noise of surprise and turned to face her friend. "Why are you apologising?" she asked, knowing the blonde wasn't referring to the camera business.

Tsumugi didn't answer. But she didn't completely avert her gaze either. Her eyes were slightly lowered, and her expression was sullen. She looked genuinely apologetic, and Mio was starting to fathom vague ideas on why. Before she could ask another question though, Yui abruptly yelled out, "Let's watch a movie! A movie!"

Nodoka and Ui strode into the room in single file, having hidden in the hallway until they were in the all clear. "What movie though?" Nodoka asked.

Yui 'hmm'-ed, and then shrugged. Sawako searched in her handbag for a couple of DVDs she could have sworn she'd shoved in that morning.

"How about 'The Chronicles of Narnia'?" Ui suggested from behind Nodoka, almost—_almost_—cowering. She stared blankly when Sawako flipped the bag upside down and shook it.

"Is it the second one?" Azusa asked.

"It's the first. We don't have the second."

Tsumugi's eyes lit up. Sawako began to pull obstructing items out into the open; she _hated_ that lion. "I would like to see it," Tsumugi said earnestly.

Mio was taken aback. "You haven't seen it yet?"

"Oh no, I'd seen it when I was in England. But I didn't really understand what was happening." Tsumugi turned to Ui. "Are there subtitles?"

"Yup, and it's voiced over too."

"How lovely!"

"Let's watch it then!" Yui yelled.

Sawako objected that she'd prefer it was a horror movie instead, but rested her case when Yui offered her a few bottles of wine and a glass. The advisor commandeered half of the L shaped couch and opened her first bottle quickly. The girls shuffled around and tried to be comfortable on what space was left, with Azusa and Mio keeping a safe distance.

The girls were a good audience, 'oh'ing and 'ah'ing at the right places. Seven minutes in, and Mio couldn't help but imagine Ritsu's reactions to some scenes. She knew the brunette would loudly criticise on the subtitle job; the subtitles, when compared to what was spoken, carried a script that was different in tone. It was something that would bother them both; Mio, because she was a writer, and Ritsu, because she liked to whine. Conscious that she was drifting away, Mio shook her head and paid an ear to the film.

_"…There are a few rules we need to follow: there will be no shoutin'. Or runnin'__. No improper use of the dumbwaiter."_

Azusa made a show at giving a big glare at Yui at that line. Nodoka and Tsumugi giggled, and Mio joined in with the infectious silliness, however distantly, for her mind swayed back into memory lane.

She knew that after Ritsu was done in watching the film, she would proceed to open nearby wardrobes, cupboards and closets and see if she could fit in them. If she could, she would go inside the cabinet and stay there for a full three seconds before she stomped out. She would then pull Mio to stand at her erstwhile place, as if she had reached the conclusion that that would make a difference.

All of these were facts, part of history, and would be part of the future as well. Even someone like Ritsu wasn't an exception to the rule: things can only be done so many times and in so many ways before they fade in originality. Mio shook her head again.

_"What are you doing?"_

_"…I'm kidnapping you."_

Once, Mio remembered, she was locked inside purposely, by Ritsu's reasoning that she needed to learn how to cope with the dark. It didn't help at all. Not because such a method wouldn't work but because Ritsu had managed to lock herself in as well.

Mio had glowered in the dark, had felt tears tickle behind her eyes, and had demanded that Ritsu should stop fooling around at once. Ritsu had shouted that she wasn't joking at all and she really couldn't open the door. Mio had shouted back that Ritsu was an idiot. It became unusually quiet. Mio, not used to the lack of answers from the brunette, had shoved her way pass her and had a go with the door herself. It didn't budge. The tears started to flow, and Ritsu broke her silence.

"Hey, don't cry."

"Ricchan's…an idiot."

She had expected her to rebuke—a repeated insult was one too many.

She was hugged instead.

"Ricchan?"

"Yeah?"

She had reached a hand up to rub her eyes before she asked hoarsely, "What are you doing?"

"Close your eyes, Mio-chan."

"Huh?"

"We're gonna play pretend now."

"We're not in elementary—"

"Maybe a jumping castle'll work."

"A what, Ricchan?"

"A jumping castle, Mio-chan. Filled with cakes."

"…The ground's hard, Ricchan."

"It's a rock cake."

"…They're not that hard."

"Don't worry too much on the details!"

"And it's stuffy in here."

Mio was stubborn.

"We're inside a sponge cake."

Ritsu was more stubborn, and Mio was getting hungry.

"…All right."

Somewhere in the middle, her memory timeline seemed to shift. Thirteen year old Ritsu, who had kept her slightly hungry and relatively sane in the semi-darkness of the closet, turned into seventeen year old Ritsu. Before Mio could start to wonder how she got stuck in a closet with Ritsu at that age, light poured in, and it took Mio a while to figure out that Ritsu had leaned to the side too much, forcing the door open.

"Look out!"

Gravity took a lot longer in making them fall into a dishevelled heap.

Grimacing in pain, Mio tried to extricate herself and failed. Her body was suddenly heavy. Their legs were tangled together, and Ritsu's arm was slung across her waist. She looked up, and saw that Ritsu's hair band must've slipped off during the fall, leaving brown hair to flutter freely over a wide forehead and amber eyes.

Dark, amber eyes.

Ritsu's mouth was moving, but no words were heard.

Mio strained her ears. "Ritsu…?"

Mio's breath hitched when Ritsu repeated what she'd just said. It was still inaudible, and Mio didn't trust her lip reading.

"I can't really hear you, Ritsu. Speak louder."

Ritsu repeated it again, then again, and again…

So deep into her thoughts was she that Mio didn't realise the movie had ended until Tsumugi shook her shoulder. Then she realised she had actually slept through most of it.

"Sorry for waking you, Mio-chan, but it's nearly eleven…."

"A-Ah, um, it's okay," Mio croaked. She cleared her throat and looked for her glass on the table. Tsumugi was already holding it, had refilled it even, and passed it to her. "Thanks."

Yui entered Mio's blurry vision with a blanket. "Do you want to stay the night, Mio-chan? You might fall asleep on the train home."

Mio took a few gulps of water before she replied, "No, it's okay. I feel awake now. Sorry for worrying you."

Yui looked doubtful. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

Yui and Tsumugi glanced at each other. Behind them, Azusa, Nodoka and Ui were also wearing varying degrees of worry on their faces. Mio blinked, and then felt her ears warm when she caught on with the implication.

"Did I…" she said slowly, "say something in my sleep?"

All five girls shook their heads negative in unison.

Mio felt faint.

"Mio-chan!"

The next time Mio became conscious again, the ground was moving. She gave a start, sat up and would've fallen off her seat if strong hands didn't steady her. She looked up and smiled in appreciation.

"Thanks Ri—I mean," Mio stammered, almost slapping a hand against her forehead, "Mugi, Mugi."

Tsumugi was amused. "Another dream?" she asked.

Mio burned. Hiding away from Tsumugi's teasing smile, she took in her surroundings. The seat she was sitting on was leather and had a belt attached. She looked ahead, across Tsumugi, and saw the scenery fly pass with the occasional blinding lights. "Are we in your car…?"

"Yes, it's a bit late for either of us to take the train."

"Ah, yeah it is…sorry for bothering you."

"Oh, not at all. Anything for a friend."

Mio twisted her body around so her legs dangled off the seat, and felt for the belt to buckle herself. She gave a side-glance at the blonde, and saw the guilt-ridden expression was back. She searched for a topic.

"Um, so how's your job?" Mio asked tentatively, "Are you finished for the week?"

"After this weekend, yes. I'll be staying in Japan for the rest of the year."

"Your parents are going somewhere?"

"A-hmm. This week, they're visiting an old friend in Germany."

"Oh, so you're home alone. Well—you get what I mean."

Tsumugi giggled.

"So you're doing well at MAX?" Mio repeated.

"Yup. They're holding a special party over there at the moment…."

"Really?"

Tsumugi was about to nod before she remembered the time. "Oh, they should've finished by now."

"…Did you want to go?"

"Hmm…Let's say that if I were to pick you guys or them, of course I would pick the first option."

Mio smiled. "You could've just given a straight answer."

Tsumugi smiled back. "That's not fun, then."

"You're sly," Mio stated playfully. When she saw how Tsumugi's expression seemed to go still, she tried to back-pedal. "I mean…."

"No," Tsumugi said sharply, and then her voice went soft again, "you're right. That's why I apologised before."

"You know something I don't, don't you?"

Tsumugi's lips tightened. "Yes. I'm sorry."

Mio sighed. "You don't need to apologise, I understand."

She didn't.

The car slowed down to a stop; the sound of gnawing gravel reached their ears. Tsumugi looked out of the window. "We've reached your house, Mio-chan."

"Yeah," Mio muttered, unbuckling her seatbelt and opening the door. "Thanks for the lift again."

"You're welcome, and Mio-chan?"

"Hm?"

"Merry Christmas."

There was something in Tsumugi's voice that made Mio stop in stumbling out of the car and look over her shoulder. It sounded as if it held hope somewhat, rather than just an obligatory blessing. It also sounded a bit—Mio gave a small smile—sly.

"Merry Christmas to you too."

After she pushed the door closed, its window rolled down. Mio stepped back from the road and ducked down to see Tsumugi give a small wave. She waved back. The car sped away.

Mio exhaled sharply; she watched the white puffs disperse before turning and making her way towards her house. She had just reached the front door when her phone gave a buzz. Digging into her jacket pockets for the keys of the house and her phone, she shoved the key into the lock and flipped the phone open to display the following message:

_'__Merry Christmas, Mio! _

_Hope I see you soon!__'_

It was from Ritsu.

Mio frowned and re-read the mail.

_Do I reply…?_

"Mio?"

Mio almost dropped her phone in surprise.

The front door was slid open, and standing in its place was Mr Akiyama in his pyjamas. "You must be cold," he continued as he sidestepped for Mio to enter, initially mistaking Mio's contorted expression to be discomfort. As soon as his last word was uttered, realisation came to him. "Oh, did I scare you? Sorry."

Mio took the keys out and stepped inside, pocketing the keys and her phone in her jacket. Her hand stayed in the jacket pocket. "Thanks, Dad. Er, did I wake you?"

Sliding the door back and locking it, the man shook his head. "Nah, I went down to get a drink and then heard you. How was the party?"

"It was fine," Mio replied distractedly.

"'Fine'?" he echoed with a sceptical eyebrow. It was replaced by a face of recollection. "Oh, right. I almost forgot."

"What is it?"

"There was a present in the mailbox from Ritsu-kun. It's at your bedroom door."

Mio stopped fidgeting with her jacket pocket. "Present? From Ritsu?"

Mr Akiyama nodded. "I guess she didn't want to burden you."

"Burden me?"

"Yeah. You'd probably lose it on the train home, right?"

Mio's brow creased. She didn't answer.

"Ritsu-kun's sure is thoughtful," Mr Akiyama went on, misinterpreting Mio's expression yet again, "it reminds me of the old days, when your mum and I were around your age."

Mio's mind was still on the previous topic. She shook her head for the current one was making some sense to her. "Mum liked sending you stuff, she told me," she said quietly.

"Right. She always left gifts in my mailbox; your grandparents always teased me about that."

"Grandma really does like to pick on you."

"She does, doesn't she…? Anyway, how is Ritsu-kun by the way? I haven't seen her for a while."

"Uh—huh…?"

"…What's wrong?"

"You're making it sound—oh!" Mio laughed. "She wasn't at the party. She's sick."

Grinning, Mio dashed towards the stairs. Her father stood quiet for a long moment as if he was contemplating over something. At last he managed to say, "Oh."

"Goodnight, Dad!"

At the top of the stairs, Mio remembered she was supposed to be quiet and lessened her haste. She squinted in the dark as she felt her way around, and then stopped, puzzling over her sudden craving for cake. She shook her head and allowed her eyes adapt to the dark.

She knelt at her bedroom door, her hands grappling on the ground. Her sight found what she was looking for before her touch; she picked up the present.

…_It__'s quite flat_, Mio noted, feeling its shape. She mentally rifled through all presents she had ever received from Ritsu. None of the inane (and horrific) options matched with the shape in her hands.

Deciding to look at her gift in the privacy of her room, she opened the door, stepped inside, turned on the light and began the unwrapping. At first she peeled off the cello tape carefully, but her patience waned after a few tries. Sliding a thumbnail under the wrapping, she tore it thoroughly. She let the wrapping fall to the ground at her feet as she stared at her gift.

It was three CDs.

On top of them was a note. A note written on one of the writing pads Mio had given on Ritsu's birthday. It wasn't the first time the brunette had used the stationery, Mio observed with a smile; the page number was reaching two digits. Mio started to wonder what had happened to the pages before this one, then shook her head for the umpteenth time that night, and read the note:

_'__Merry Christmas, Mio! Here's the YUI CD I was supposed to give back. And you said you didn't get her singles, right? Since you were late and all, but hey, even if you did, you have backups now!'_

Underneath the words was a drawn caricature of Ritsu. It grinned and winked at Mio, complemented with a victory sign—or was it two drumsticks, Mio wasn't sure.

Mio slid the note to the bottom of the pile, revealing the first CD to be her copy of 'CAN'T BUY MY LOVE'. She slid that one under the note—

"Kyaaa…!"

Remembering what time it was, Mio covered her mouth with a hand and continued her moment by flailing around on the spot.

The second CD was the limited edition of 'again'; something that was long out of print.

Grinning gleefully, she managed to slide that CD to the side—and squealed again. It was another out of print single, and another limited edition, but best of all, it was double A-sided.

"'It's all too much/Never say die'…! How did she get these? !"

After rubbing her eyes to make sure she wasn't imagining things and flipping over the CDs multiple times to make sure they were absolutely tangible, Mio ran around her room in tie-toe fashion. That happened about thrice before she finally settled down. Pulling her phone out and—after re-typing and deleting parts she deemed to be verbose—replied:

_'__Merry Christmas to you too!  
Hope you get better soon.  
You'd better check__ your mailbox too.'_

ooo

New Year's Day came quickly.

The first thing Mio did when she awoke was to turn on her CD player. As it looped the 'again' single…again, her phone beeped. It was a 'Happy New Year' message from Ritsu.

Mio smiled and was about to type her own reply when she remembered something.

The Light Music Club had decided to meet up at Imamiya Shrine on the third, just like last year, and hoped it would turn tradition. Graduation was going to be upon most of them in a year, and they needed something that would delay them from separation. They had heard the horror stories of good friends that soon drifted apart after high school. Even though they often reassured each other the band would survive, all of them knew the world outside Sakuragaoka High was harsh. They needed each other to go through the many trials life would bring them.

But there was a flaw in their plan: they had forgotten to notify the club leader about it.

Or to put it more precisely, Yui had slipped into her airhead persona and zoned out when it came to the question of who would tell Ritsu. Azusa had pointed out that she wasn't there last year so it would be 'inappropriate' for her to be the messenger. Tsumugi had only uttered the words 'family business' and the subject was changed—after a hasty 'we're counting on you, Mio-chan/sempai!'

Sighing at the memory, Mio hung her head but the smile stayed. In addition to the obligatory greeting in her reply, she passed on the details of what her other lovely friends were going to be up to. She had to press the 'send' button at least twice due to her excitement, hoping Ritsu was well enough to go.

Ritsu's reply was:

_'__Sorry~! I'm gonna be busy practising.  
Have fun without me!__'_

In Mio's symbolic writing style, the brunette's reply had stapled Mio's high hopes together and had it sent to a paper shredder.

Mio glared at her phone.

_P__ractising…? For __**what**__! Mugi's still checking over the new song…and since when does Ritsu __**practise**__…? Does that even exist in her schedule? If she __**had**__ a schedule, that is._

She groaned and curled in her bed.

_She's not…avoiding me, right__?_

After pressing a few buttons on the phone idly, Mio stared at Ritsu's mail that was received on Christmas Eve. She groaned again and curled further until she reached foetal position, not wanting to get up anymore.

But Nature called.

ooo

On the ground floor, Mr Akiyama glanced towards the ceiling and wondered why his daughter's footsteps were heavier than usual. It was the kind of heavy that sounded intimidating, prevising you to keep on your toes. Mr Akiyama frowned. Mio was a morning person and the only times she was not was when her Aunt Yuuna came to visit—she can be awfully chatty and likes to drop in at four in the morning—or there was a row with her childhood friend.

He eyed his wife who sat across from him. She'd claimed she heard their daughter squeal in delight around the first hour of Christmas Day. He assumed that was due to Ritsu's present and vetoed the idea that Ritsu had sent another horrific item. That also meant he didn't need to give the young lady another subtle threat…

As if those had worked in the past, he frowned.

Propping his elbow onto the table, he rested his chin on his palm. He didn't remember an angry Mio last night, and it seemed Ritsu was still down with the flu considering Mio stayed at home all week. Her blonde friend—Tsumugi, was it?—came over a couple of times, but that was it; the girl rarely left the house unless accompanied by the eccentric brunette. He stared ahead.

Ms Akiyama stared back at him. Her eyes had a knowing glint, but her chin was set. Sensing a reprimanding, he lifted his head and steepled his hands. "Drink your tea, darling," he said warmly.

She did, but made a face and settled her tea cup down with a clink. Pulling the shawl over her shoulders, she stood up and went to check the mailbox. She came back with a bundle of cards and the morning paper. Skimming through the cards, she slipped several into her apron pocket and placed the remaining items onto the table.

"I've told you to stop worrying about it," she said finally.

"I'm not worrying about it," he replied a bit too quickly.

"Ricchan sent a card. They're—"

"She did?"

"—not fighting then."

A pause.

"That's good," he said monotonously.

His wife frowned at him. She picked up her cup of cold tea and waddled to the kitchen for a refill. "You know Mio doesn't like it when you fuss over her."

"Yes, I know." He played with the corner of a card idly as he stared at nothing. "Somehow, I kind of understand mum's feelings."

Ms Akiyama hummed in agreement. "Speaking about mum, did you send her a card?"

"…Oh, crap!"

There was a rush, a smack of wood against bone, and another darkly muttered curse.

Mr Akiyama danced on one leg, nursing his foot. The table, that he had snubbed his toe against, had flipped the cards over, littering all over the floor. Mr Akiyama stepped on one of them—and fell onto his back, arms waving in the air.

His wife returned to the dishevelled living room. "Aren't you a frog," she remarked in amusement.

The man tried to sit up, until pain from his lower back stopped him. He settled at lying still. "Frog?" he croaked, "How am I a frog?"

"A frog's child is a frog," she replied airily. Comprehension began to dawn on her husband, but was easily wiped out with confusion.

"Mio hurt her toe too?"

Ms Akiyama didn't answer. She had already left the living room and was assumingly at the stairs, judging from the sounds of slippers landing on hollow wood. He closed his eyes and relaxed; he'd call his mother later and apologise. If he was lucky, she wouldn't throw in a hearty death joke. They worked fantastically well as guilt-trips and always sent him packing his weekend duffel bag for home. Maybe he should look for that bag later as well; his back was still rebelling against him and the ground was growing comfortable. Now was a good chance in considering what gift he should bring home.

His peaceful thoughts were interrupted by a loud thump and muffled yell from above. There were another few similar, but lighter in comparison, thumps after that. He didn't dare sit up to find the reason of the commotion. He waited for his wife to appear, and soon enough she did. He lifted his head up and looked at her questionably.

"I was giving her her cards," she explained.

Her husband's brow wrinkled.

"She tripped over one of the cords," she elaborated.

ooo

At the Imamiya Shrine, even though it was the third of January, the area was a phalanx of people. Tsumugi arrived first, with Azusa and Yui appearing several minutes later. Seeing that she could see them but they couldn't see her, Tsumugi called out their names and waved them over with gusto. She was finally out of a kimono, which went on for three days straight, and back into casual, winter clothing. Yui, on the other hand, hadn't worn a kimono for three years straight, and since she was also wearing casual clothing, that personal record was going strong.

Azusa looked reluctant when she saw Tsumugi. She held her ground when Yui pulled her along.

"C'mon, Azu-nyan," Yui cooed, "You look adorable."

"You told me I'm not going to be the only one."

"Oh, I did, didn't I?"

"Yui-sempai!"

"Look, Azu-nyan! Mugi-chan thinks you look adorable too!"

Azusa blanched. "Can you please tell her to get rid of the camera?"

"…But I want pictures…."

"And _I_ don't! So can you please tell her to stop?"

"D'aww," Yui pouted. She stuck her nose to the side and puffed out her cheeks. "Fine then. Mugi-chan…you heard her."

Tsumugi slipped the camera into her purse and pasted a smile. "Good morning!"

"Good morning…!" Yui greeted back. She eyed Tsumugi's purse. "Mugi-chan…?"

"Hm?"

"Did you bring—"

"Of course she didn't, Yui-sempai!"

"—the photos?"

"…Huh?"

"What do you mean, Azu-nyan?"

Azusa gaped, and flushed red. She crossed her arms and huffed, taking in her surroundings.

"Unfortunately, I didn't," Tsumugi answered. "I'll bring them next time."

Yui was more sullen than ever.

"It's still a bit crowded today, isn't it?" Azusa remarked.

"It is," Tsumugi agreed. "Shall we go and do our prayers?"

"Shouldn't we wait for Ritsu-sempai?"

"She isn't coming."

"Oh, how about…?"

"She's probably not coming, too."

"I see. I guess…we should go then."

Yui continued to gaze at Tsumugi's purse wistfully, and would only move when Azusa promised she would wear the Santa costume the next time they see their advisor. Appeased, Yui happily followed the two through the gate and to the main praying area. She rummaged through her bag, brought out a five yen coin and popped it in the offering box. Azusa watched Tsumugi insert a hundred yen coin. Frowning, she stared at the ten yen coin in her hands. She switched it with a fifty and rung the bell, hastily, when Tsumugi gave a knowing giggle.

Just as Yui was about to clap her hands together, Azusa interrupted her.

"Yui-sempai, I do hope your wish is related to the club."

Yui froze. She laughed and waved a gloved hand in front of her. "O-Of course, Azu-nyan!"

"Liar."

"I-I'm not lying!"

"But you were!"

"Now, now," Tsumugi said warmly, looking over her shoulder. The other two followed her gaze, and were reminded of how crowded the shrine was. A few people were waiting in line behind them.

They straightened up, clapped twice and bowed.

"I hope that all of us continue to have fun together," Tsumugi prayed.

"I hope that we will visit the cake shop—" Yui paused when she heard Azusa literally growl, "—and feel energised enough to practise."

Azusa stopped growling; she apparently accepted Yui's prayer.

"I hope that this year's school festival is also a success."

They quickly stepped off the platform—after Azusa apologised to the people in line—and made for the paved footpath. Yui scanned through the crowds as Azusa and Tsumugi checked their phones. Finding something—someone—strikingly familiar, she pointed towards the gate and grabbed her friends' attention by yelling hysterically. Tsumugi looked up from her phone in concern. Azusa looked up with a tick in her eye.

"What is it, now—Sensei? !"

"It is Sawako-sensei!"

Sawako had not yet acknowledged her students' loud presence. Considering there were many people and garden lanterns in between them, it was understandable.

"And look!" Yui jabbed her finger at the same direction, making a few tourists turn around and wonder what was so interesting about a garden lantern. "Her boyfriend's with her this time!"

Azusa's and Tsumugi's eyes moved from Sawako to the man that was practically attached to her hip. They briefly mused over how they didn't spot him immediately.

"Her boyfriend's really handsome," Yui exclaimed in disbelief.

"…Yeah," Azusa admitted. She immediately looked guilty for the shallow assumption.

"Let's spy on them!"

"No, we shouldn't—" Her pleas went unheard. She and Tsumugi were dragged to a lantern that was several metres away from the couple. Yui knelt down and peered from its side—and jumped back so suddenly her elbow almost connected with Azusa's jaw.

"Yui-sempai! Watch it!"

"Sorry! Are you okay?"

"Yes, but please be more careful next time."

"I will." Yui checked her phone.

"Did you just get a mail from Mio-sempai?"

"Yeah! She said she couldn't come 'cause something came up." Yui giggled. "More like 'someone', eh Azu-nyan?"

"Do you mean Ritsu-sempai?" Azusa asked unnecessarily. She glanced back at their advisor and then to her senior. Yui had apparently forgotten her earlier promise.

"Yup!"

"…I don't get why they're taking so long to make up."

"It hasn't been that long."

"It's been three weeks!"

Yui took a step back at the outburst and blinked. "Eh? You were counting?"

"Yes," Azusa stressed out, and then added, "I've been counting how long we haven't practised together."

"Oh, I never do that…."

"Actually, I'd be pretty surprised if you did, Yui-sempai…."

"You know, I wonder what Mio-chan and Ricchan are doing."

Azusa looked as if she was going to retort, she eventually sighed instead. "You and me both, Yui-sempai."

"They might be making up right now, you know. With hugs and kisses."

Azusa stared blankly at Yui. Shaking her head, she glanced at Tsumugi. She gasped. "Mugi-sempai! Your nose is bleeding!"

Tsumugi broke from her daze, clapped a hand over her nose and blinked. "I am?"

"Um, it's kind of hard to tell now that you're covering it. But yes, I was sure you were."

By now, Yui had grasped what was going on—barely. "Mugi-chan! What's wrong?"

Tsumugi blushed at the extra attention as she fumbled for a couple of tissues. "I-It's nothing, Yui-chan. It's just a nosebleed."

"A-A nosebleed? What happened? Should I call—"

"It's okay, Yui-chan. It's okay."

"—Sawa-chan-sensei over—really?"

"Yes."

"It can't be normal," Azusa said, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh no, this happens a lot more than you think."

"Why is that?"

"It's because I'm usually warm. And in the middle of winter, I'm more prone to them."

"…So it's really a common thing?"

Tsumugi nodded, "Yup."

Azusa raised the other eyebrow; Tsumugi pretended she didn't see the look by treating her nosebleed.

Yui had switched her mind off in the middle of the conversation and only returned when Azusa was perplexed. "Hey, let's go and eat some rice cakes!"

Azusa narrowed her eyes at her senior, but ended up following Yui's proposition after a surprise hug. Tsumugi did not object, having told herself that she would avoid treats for today. So the three swirled around—or swivelled as if she was executing each step of a lawn sprinkler—and made their way to a nearby restaurant.

At the end of lunch Tsumugi excused herself early. Yui nodded and waved absentmindedly as she looked around, admiring the surrounding view. Munching on the last cake she'd claimed to be her last, Yui commented, "Mugi-chan isn't working again, is she?"

There was no answer.

"Azu-nyan," Yui turned to the side, "why don't you try this—Azu-nyan?"

Her fellow guitarist wasn't at her side.

Tsumugi had managed to drag Azusa along with her.

ooo

The third and last semester loomed closer and closer, and soon enough Mio left the house for school. She had messaged Tsumugi earlier that she would be taking the keyboard for today and hoped she wouldn't mind; Tsumugi had not yet replied.

It was until she had stepped onto school grounds did Mio's phone go off. Moving to the side so she wouldn't impede anyone's path, Mio flipped her phone open and read Tsumugi's reply:

_'__That's okay, Mio-chan.  
By the way, c__an you meet me at the music room before homeroom starts?  
It's about the song.'_

Mio smiled.

_That's our Mugi._

Pocketing her phone, she made her way towards the building where the music room was located. She hummed the song in writing as her eyes drifted to the sky. Cloud watching was not one of her common pastimes but now that she had noticed them—white puffs that don't immediately disperse—they'd be good inspiration for some lyrics. She caught sight of a contrail before she entered the building, and was so engrossed in her wonder that she bumped into someone.

Shaking and preparing to apologise, Mio's gaze fell and met nothing. Confused, she spun around on her heel and continued to find nothing, no one—until she saw several strands of familiar, golden hair disappearing behind a wall.

…_Was that Mugi?_

Mio shook her head at the thought. Tsumugi would've apologised—would've been the first to apologise.

_Why would she run away from me, anyway?_

Laughing dryly, Mio went on: crossing through hallways and climbing up stairs. Her pace picked up with each step, that when she reached the music room door, she wretched it open and flung herself into the room.

"Hey Mugi…huh?"

The music room was empty.

She shivered.

The room was too quiet.

Hearing a susurrus sound of movement from behind her, Mio whirled around and came face to face with—Mio lifted an eyebrow.

"Who are you?" she asked.

The person that stood by the doorjamb looked unfamiliar, and yet didn't. She was a student like Mio, judging by the uniform she wore. She had shoulder length, brown hair that looked unkempt. The fringe was long, and reached her nose, but was parted in a way so her eyes were visible.

Mio stared.

The other girl met Mio's eyes, making her mind halt. She tried not to flail her arms when the recognition hit her.

"R-Ritsu? !"

Ritsu gave a lopsided grin; Mio reminded herself to breathe.

"W-Why are you here? Where's Mugi?" Mio demanded, and would have continued if Ritsu hadn't revealed what was behind her back.

It was a bouquet of vibrant coloured flowers.

Mio gaped. She felt her bag slip off her shoulder and fall.

"Uh, here, it's for you," Ritsu mumbled, stepping forward with her hand out. The hand that held the roses, or lilacs, or lilies, or—Mio wasn't sure at that moment what kind of flowers they were. She was only sure that they were stunning—and that they looked a bit too battered and bit too dry, and that a few fallen petals were on the floor.

Another petal drifted off and joined the others on the ground, and Mio became conscious of how long she had been standing there gaping like an idiot. She stepped forward and took the bouquet in a daze.

"Um, thanks." She tilted her head. "Uh, what are these?"

"You mean the flowers?"

"Uh. Yeah."

"Flowers."

Mio's jaw tightened.

Ritsu spun around hastily. Picking up the acoustic guitar that lay against the wall, she made herself comfortable by sitting on the couch before lifting the guitar onto her lap. Mio looked on in confusion.

"What are you doing?" Mio asked.

"Playing the guitar," Ritsu answered, as if it was a common thing for her to do.

_What__?_

Mio's incredulous tone portrayed her succinct thoughts. "…You can _play_?"

The drummer gave the guitar a few, idle strums. "Yeah, of course!" She winked. "Watch me, okay?"

Mio gave her a dubious look.

Taking out a plectrum from her pocket, Ritsu paid the look no mind as she concentrated on the strings of the guitar. At the first chord the look remained, still not registering how it wasn't as jarring as expected. At the second the look began to crumble, realising that, yes, it wasn't really jarring at all. By the third chord, the look disappeared and was taken over by shock.

As if that wasn't surprising enough, Ritsu started to sing along.

_That's why __I go to you now 'cause I decided  
I want you to hear __this song in my pocket  
I turn up the volume quietly  
Just to make sure, you know_

Ritsu's vocals were like a staggering entity, it would stumble on the line between two tunes: on or off. When it was the latter the brunette would slow down with the melody, placing the lyrics in priority and causing the timing to go more awry. But those trivial flaws didn't matter. Mio was still struck with awe.

_Oh__, good-bye days  
Now, I have __a feeling things are gonna change  
So long, the day before now  
Bec__ause there's this uncool gentleness beside me  
~with__ you_

By the second line of the refrain, Ritsu was struggling with the chords. Leaving the strings alone for now, she sang the chorus with a more modulated voice. It was a voice that contained a mild vibrato that, somehow, was not horribly strained from the power Ritsu gave. By the end of the verse, she began to strum the guitar again.

_I give you t__he other earphone  
And __the song flows slowly at that moment_

The melody stopped again, and Ritsu looked up with those amber eyes.

Dark, amber eyes.

"I'm loving you, aren't I?"

A harsh deja-vu crashed its way down, blinding Mio to the point where she had to blink, and blink. Stupidly. She felt her limbs go limp and heard something fall onto the ground, but she knew she was still standing.

Ritsu was still gazing at her, but looked away after a few more moments.

Mio started to speak, but the first uttered syllable was hoarse so she cleared her throat and licked her lips before trying again.

"Put the guitar down and stand up."

Ritsu faced her again and raised an arm in defence. "Okay, I know I sucked and I could have—"

"Put it down and stand up!"

"Why…?"

"Just _do_ it!"

Ritsu finally complied, and Mio took a few, quick steps forward to embrace Ritsu tightly. She heard Ritsu sigh in relief, and felt hands sneaking their way around her shoulders timidly. Mio smiled. Pulling back, she grazed her suddenly dry lips against Ritsu's cheek and felt the hands pause momentarily.

It was Ritsu's turn to blink stupidly.

Mio tightened her hold on Ritsu again, and then giggled, having felt Ritsu's heart beat heavily against her.

Ritsu rested her chin on Mio's shoulder and closed her eyes. "Mio…?"

"Hm?"

"I'm sorry."

"Un."

"For, you know, being, uh."

"Really slow."

"You were gonna stay 'stupid', weren't you?"

"Well…" Mio said slowly, "you're able to catch colds, so you can't be stupid."

Ritsu's eyes flew open. "Hey!"

Mio gave a snort, which soon turned into full-blown laughter. A laughter that was so infectious, Ritsu's offended face crumbled easily and she joined in.

When their shared mirth had settled into a little giggle here and there, and Ritsu had relaxed, Mio remembered something. "Hey."

"Hmm?"

"That song you were playing…."

"…Yeah?"

"Was it YUI's 'Good-bye Days'?"

"Yeah, it was."

Mio's next reply was subdued.

"…Don't die on me."

She felt Ritsu's head immediately move, chafing against her ear. She bit back a wince.

"Huh? What'd you say?"

"Did you do your homework?"

Ritsu's left arm fell from Mio's shoulder to her side, and poked; Mio flinched. "Don't change the topic. What did you say?"

"I said 'Did you do your homework?'."

There was another poke, and another grimace. "No, you didn't."

Mio slid her arm across her stomach quickly, covering her side. She didn't let Ritsu go, despite her unrelenting poking. "Yes, I did. Oi! That hurt!" She grasped Ritsu's hand and held it. "You didn't, didn't you?"

"Do my homework?" Ritsu asked innocently as she struggled to reach Mio's side.

Mio's hold was resolute. "Yeah."

Ritsu tried to yank her hand away. "I'll just borrow Mugi's again."

Mio's grip hurt with each struggle. "How often do you do that?"

Ritsu stopped. "Every other week or so? Not that often."

"That's _very_ often, Ritsu."

"She doesn't mind," Ritsu huffed, trying to flex her fingers to see if any were broken.

"You _think_ she doesn't mind. Anyway, is that her guitar?"

"Yeah. Mugi's really nice, isn't she? She let me borrow it for all winter break."

Mio's grip loosened. "Winter break?" she echoed. She tightened her grip again when she felt Ritsu tense up.

"Yeah. Argh. Oh man, I practised so much. And I still stuffed it up!"

"Practised over—oh!" Mio finally understood Ritsu's New Year message. "Hey, you did all right."

"I should've mastered the chords by now…."

Mio moved her hand around so their palms were against each other, and lazily rubbed her thumb over the back of Ritsu's hand. The drummer relaxed—eventually—and Mio knew she would not be poked for a while now.

"Hey," Mio murmured, "don't be so harsh on yourself. We're all not like Yui."

Ritsu went rigid again. "…Yui…That lucky…."

Mio continued to rub with her thumb; Ritsu remained tense. "…You're not jealous of Yui, are you?"

Ritsu's voice carried a mildly rough edge. "No, I'm not jealous. Why would I?"

Mio couldn't help but snicker. "You are jealous."

Ritsu stepped away from the hug. "I'm not jealous!"

"Yeah you aren't."

"I'm really not—"

"Now, now."

"—jealous!"

"It's homeroom time."

"Mio!"

Mio's eyes darted to Ritsu's. "Hmm?"

Ritsu glared, and then tilted her head to the side. "Have you been hanging around with Mugi?"

"Uh, yeah. I have."

"Oh," Ritsu said shortly. She looked as if she was pouting.

Mio made sure the amusement didn't show on her face when she asked, "Why?"

"I dunno," Ritsu dragged out. "You just seem a bit—I mean, I dunno, it's like you've been hanging around…."

"You're sounding like you're—"

"Yeah," Ritsu admitted, puffing up her cheeks and looking at the ground, "Got a problem?"

Mio smiled and squeezed Ritsu's hand. "C'mon, we're gonna be late," she reminded, trying to tug the brunette forward.

Ritsu held her ground. She pointed to the floor. "You forgot something."

Mio looked down and saw what Ritsu was referring to. It was the bouquet of flowers. Mio realised with a small jump that that must've been what had fallen before. Slipping her hand from Ritsu's, she knelt down and picked up the flowers. A few more petals were left behind. She looked ahead and saw her neglected bag. She picked that up as well.

Glancing over her shoulder to see if Ritsu would follow her ("What are you looking at…oh," Ritsu said), Mio made her way out of the music room. Ritsu ran up to her, closed the door and matched her pace so that they walked side by side. A comfortable silence, which was punctuated with even footsteps, fell.

When they were a couple of classrooms away from the stairs they usually part at, Ritsu asked, "Like the flowers?"

Mio yelped in surprise. "Yeah. Thank you."

Ritsu grinned at her.

"Though," Mio continued, "how can I go to class holding this…?"

They reached the stairs, and Ritsu looked at it for a moment then looked back at Mio. She did that again before she waved. "See ya, then."

Mio freed a hand and waved back. "Yeah, see you."

"And I don't think they'll mind."

Mio was about to enquire what she meant by 'they' until she remembered what she had said before. "You think?"

"Yeah," Ritsu shrugged, turning around. She was on the fifth step of the stairs when she added, "Well…for now, anyway."

"Huh?"

Ritsu looked over her shoulder and grinned. "Don't worry, go to class, you goodie-two-shoes."

Mio gave Ritsu an even stare, mulling over the words she had insinuated she didn't hear. She shrugged. "All right," she said, "have fun."

Ritsu pulled a face. "'Fun'? Did you just say 'have fun' when I'm going to class?"

"Yeah. And you'd better pay attention. Don't bother Mugi anymore."

"I'm not bothering her."

"You've been copying her notes and homework—"

"And she's been real nice at feeding me at lunch, too."

Mio was appalled. "You're taking advantage of her!"

"What? I…" The rest of Ritsu's objection trailed off rather ominously. She held a hand over her mouth, her eyes turning impish and dark. "Oho? Jealous that it's not you I'm taking advantage of?"

Mio stomped one foot forward and raised an angry fist. "Go to class, you _idiot_!"

Ritsu jumped up a few stairs in reflex. Her hands were up in the air with the palms facing out. "Okay, okay, Mio-chuan."

Mio waited until Ritsu had disappeared upstairs before she headed for her class. A few students who were in the hallway gave her varied looks as she passed them. Focusing on the bouquet in her hands, Mio kept her head low and didn't meet their eyes.

She reached 2-1 and paused.

_They won't mind…They won't mind…I won't __even be noticed. Yeah, I won't be noticed._

Taking a few deep breaths, she opened the door and entered the room. She cringed, realising belatedly she had forgotten to hide the most incriminating item behind her back. Because the moment Mio stepped into the classroom, a couple of heads turned to her, saw the flowers and glowed with curiosity. She backed away instinctively as they rushed towards her.

"Oh my, Mio-san!" one of the girls gushed, "Who gave those to you? They're so pretty!"

"Um," Mio said shortly, startled eyes darting from one to the other. She tried to remember their names.

"Yeah, yeah," the other girl agreed, jabbering away, "What's her name?"

Mio's brain halted for the second time of the day. "I'm sorry?" she spluttered, going scarlet.

"It's someone at school, isn't it?"

Her mind still not catching up, Mio could only nod dumbly.

"Do we know her, Mio-san?" the first girl asked in excitement. When the girl started to scan the room for any eavesdroppers, Mio recalled her name.

_Ah, Shimazu. Shimazu Masae. And the other is Ishidou…Ishidou—_

"Taka-chan! Do you think they're from _her_?"

_Ah, Ishidou Takayo.__ Right. Eh. Eh? Whom are they talking about?_

"Well, who is it?" Takayo repeated. "She does have a name, right?"

Mio gaped, then nodded and found her tongue. "Um, uh, Ritsu?"

"Tainaka Ritsu?"

Mio nodded again. She felt as if her cheeks were going to release smoke soon, with the way they were burning.

"I knew it!" Masae squealed, "I knew you two had something going on!"

Mio startled. Scared that she would say something that would further her embarrassment, she kept her mouth closed and hoped fervently they'd change the topic for her.

"Stop teasing the poor girl," Takayo reprimanded, "she's all red."

_Thank you__ so much. Thank you._

Masae stuck out her tongue at Takayo before turning to Mio with a sincere face. "Sorry."

"It's…It's okay," Mio replied. She was about to head over to Nodoka, who was giving her a knowing look, when she was stopped by a hand on her arm.

"Tell us the details!" Masae pleaded.

Mio didn't quite succeed in hiding her grimace. Takayo frowned and shook her friend's shoulder, rebuking her about her lack of tact.

"Mio!"

Mio quickly turned to Nodoka, almost blinding her classmates with her flippant hair. "Yes?" she asked a bit too eagerly.

"Do you want to practise those English orals we talked about yesterday?"

"Yes, of course!" Mio replied cheerfully, and in well enunciated English. She gave Masae an apologetic look before walking over—Akiyama Mio does not run, unless an unstoppable force (read: any of her fellow club members) is in play—to her desk.

"Let's start now."

ooo

"We're not going to practise today?" Mio asked in disbelief.

Ritsu was zipping up the guitar in its case. She nodded and grinned. "Yup! Don't worry, I've already told Mugi and the others yesterday. And Yui knows."

Mio blinked. "…Yesterday? Mugi and the others?"

"Yeah," Ritsu said. She picked up the case and slung it over her back.

"When you say Mugi and the others…You mean Azusa?"

"Yup. She helped me."

"In what? The guitar?"

"Uh huh. She's great! The club's gonna be in capable hands when I graduate along with…," Ritsu frowned.

"What's wrong?"

"No one recognised me."

"When you went to class, you mean?"

"Yeah."

Mio crossed her arms—as well as she could with a bouquet in her hands. "Well, duh, _I_ even had trouble telling it was you."

"Really? Well, what did you think when you saw me?"

Mio felt another blush coming, so she faced the other way. "Nothing," she said hastily.

"…Seriously?"

Hearing the hurt in Ritsu's voice, Mio eyed her with her peripherals. She cringed. Ritsu was looking crestfallen. "Hey—"

"You seriously mean that?" Ritsu sniffed.

Mio cringed again. "I…you," she stammered in a panic. Her next words were mumbled.

Ritsu's expression became darker. "I can't hear you."

Mio mumbled again.

"…Can't hear you."

"I thought you were really cute, okay? !"

"…Were?"

Mio drew a deep breath, almost hissing. "Are! Whatever!"

"…So is that a compliment?"

"_Yes_, it's a compliment, you idiot!"

Ritsu cracked a smile, and Mio knew in dismay that she had been duped. "Thanks!"

Mio kept her face to the side.

"Well, I'm packed," Ritsu announced, "and you didn't bring Elizabeth, so let's go!"

Before Mio could retort, Ritsu had grabbed her hand and pulled her along.

"H-Hey, wait!"

"Time is precious!" she exclaimed; the last word was spoken in English. "No waiting around!"

"Don't you mean, 'Time is money'? !"

The door was slammed behind them but was left unlocked. Mio tried to free her hand and stop, knowing their advisor would not be pleased if they had left it so. But Ritsu was already racing down the stairs and Mio's sudden main concern was to not fall face first on the ground floor. One arm in the air like an acrobat on a tightrope, she treaded the edges of every step for a nanosecond each. She tripped on the last and was about to drop the bouquet so she could break her fall—until Ritsu flung an arm out and stabilised her. She grinned, didn't apologise and continued the brisk pace.

After they had passed the school gate, Mio wretched her hand away from Ritsu and glowered at her. She was catching her breath whilst doing so; Ritsu was unfazed.

Ritsu placed a hand on her hip and cocked her head to the side. "You really aren't fit, huh?"

"You just have too much energy!" Mio huffed out.

"You always say the opposite when we're practising."

"Because you're lazy!"

"No." Ritsu was humming. "It's 'cause I'm cra—"

"Shut up."

Ritsu abided Mio's wishes by snapping her jaw shut. But that didn't stop her from giving another cheeky grin. Ignoring the urge to club a cranium, Mio straightened her posture and adjusted the strap of the school bag on her shoulder. The rough texture of the material hurt her cold fingers. She sighed and looked at Ritsu's hands.

"What kind of strings does that guitar use?"

"Eh? Uh…steel, I think."

"Don't your fingers hurt?"

"Huh?" Ritsu blinked. She brought her hands up and inspected them. Her fingertips were pale and swollen. "Yeah, why?"

"Just wondering."

"I got used to it though."

"That's surprising."

"Why?"

"I'd thought you'd be complaining instead. You're excellent at that. Always complaining, and complaining, and complaining—"

"Okay! I get the point!" The drummer crossed her arms. "…Fine, they honestly hurt like hell."

Mio smiled. "And you still played."

"Yeah, well, it'd be a waste if I didn't, wouldn't it."

The end of Mio's lips twitched. "You are," she stopped and shook her head. "There are no words to describe you."

"Thanks."

"That wasn't a compliment."

"But you'll forgive me because I'm so cute, right?"

ooo

Ritsu could have sworn she saw something white stream out from Mio's ears before she was pummelled.

She was going to do that again, if only so she was allowed to rest her head on Mio's shoulder during the train rides.

ooo

"It sure feels weird, passing here this early," Ritsu commented.

Mio lifted her gaze from the ground, having busied herself in eyeing their joined hands, and settled them on the playground at their side. A playground they had sometimes played in after school during elementary.

"I hardly pay attention to it when we pass this way," Mio admitted. Her eyes followed two of the kids as they did a running jump for a monkey bar each, pull up, bend over at their stomach with angled knees, and flip themselves upside-down, hanging from the bar by their legs. She cringed when she recalled how Ritsu had done the same thing at that age; she ended up with a dislocated shoulder.

"What's up?"

"Just remembered something," Mio replied. She glanced at Ritsu and immediately became wary; the growing smile on the brunette's face was giving her alarm bells. She knew she was going to regret it but went ahead and asked, "What…?"

"Is it the time we were making those flowers?"

"Huh?" Mio looked down at the bouquet questionably.

Ritsu shook her head. "Meh, I guess you weren't."

"We were making flowers?"

"Don't worry about it."

"I wanna know now!"

"You sure?"

"What kind of question is that?"

"How about yours?"

"Don't answer my question with a question!"

"You started it!"

Mio hissed and clenched her hands, making the other girl flinch. "Ritsu!"

"Okay, okay! Uh, remember those huge flowers made from, uh, what's-it-callie paper?"

"Please be more specific."

"I can't remember the name! I just know if it's coloured, it bleeds when you put glue or water on it…."

"Crepe paper?"

"…Not sure."

"It's not that you don't remember the name—you just don't know it."

"Same thing." Mio clenched her hands again, but Ritsu seemed to have gotten used to the pain. "Anyway, only some people could make it since there weren't much paper. So whoever was able to get it from the front got to do it—you were so slow—I got to do it, though. And, oh yeah, you weren't the only slowpoke in the class so the teacher got the rest to make cards."

Mio was shaking her head. "I don't see where you're going with this."

But Ritsu's suspicious smile was going strong. "You were sad 'cause you wanted to make the flower instead. I'd already made it so, uh…," she trailed off, going pink.

Mio blinked. "And…?" she prompted. Her curiosity was greatly piqued now; she would tease Ritsu later.

"I gave it to you—and you gave me the card and…kissed me."

"…."

"…Mio?"

Mio flinched, her face contorting and blushing. "I don't remember that!"

"What's with the pause? !"

"Are you making this up? !"

"What? No! I—forget it."

Mio watched Ritsu bite her lower lip in frustration.

"I…was it on the…mouth?"

Ritsu ran her free hand along a metal fence and didn't meet Mio's eyes. "The cheek," she finally muttered.

Mio looked at the bouquet once again. Some of the flowers were yellow; a shade of yellow that was similar to a flower she received years ago. She had to wash her hands repeatedly on that day, for the sallow colour had seeped and stained them.

"…I remember now."

Ritsu scratched the top of her head roughly. "I feel so old now! It's too early to reminisce!"

Mio smiled. "What's so bad about that?"

"It just is—and, oh great, we're here already."

"Hm?" Mio looked around and saw they were at the intersection they had to part. "Ah."

Ritsu released her hand. She stood awkwardly and stared at Mio, as if waiting for something.

"What?" Mio asked.

"I can say the same for you," Ritsu said, almost sulking.

Mio looked over her shoulder, towards the direction where she had to leave. She sighed. "I guess it's 'bye' for—"

"Mio."

Mio turned back. "Wha—"

She never got to finish her sentence.

ooooo

_End_

A/N: I apologise for not including many music scenes. Though, you know, if KyoAni didn't add that element much into the series, I don't think I'm able to in retrospect….

Thanks to those who reviewed! RtDK, thank you so _much_ for your tremendous help and your tolerance of my many, inappropriate and now deleted semicolons in the past two chapters.

**P.S. A sequel will appear**** inevitably.** And oh my, it's probably going to contain less music….

**Notes (?)****:**  
— I do not own UVERworld or YUI.  
—"Time is precious" = "Toki wa precious", it's a line in UVERworld's 'CHANCE!'  
— If you're a YUI fan and you didn't understand Mio's 'Don't die on me' line, I'm not going to explain it. I'll spoil you otherwise. Oops, I already did.  
— Ken and Noriyuki seem to be common names. I know the former is awfully common but the latter? Hmm. So yeah, it wasn't an intended Ga-Rei reference, but you're obviously free to think it as one if you want. Anyone that knows their _rumoured_ gay j-artists will probably know where the guys' names were stolen from.  
— The names of Mio's and Nodoka's classmates and teacher were 'borrowed' from some of the K-ON seiyuu/voice actresses, i.e. Satou Satomi = Ritsu, Hikasa [Youko] = Mio.  
— If you still couldn't tell, I'm not great at making up names. Aunt Yuuna doesn't count. That's just a stupid pun that was made up on the spot. The other two classmates that appeared in this chapter? I got their names from a names generator. :D  
— The character for Mio's name means 'waterway' whilst Ritsu's means 'law', so if you're wondering if Ritsu was scribbling _ai ai gasa_ (love love umbrellas): yes, yes, she was.  
— Do not poke me about the hotpot not being typically Japanese, if you are. I dunno.  
— Yeah, I used the original English script of the Narnia movie. Oh, and I do not own it.  
— Yes, in some cases girls can be addressed with the honorific '-kun' as well. I find it quite fitting for Aki-tousan to call Ritsu with that, so don't badger me.  
— 'A frog's child is a frog', it's a Japanese saying, and if you haven't figured it out, it's like the more familiar saying: 'like parent, like child'.  
— I hear it's a myth or something that if a person is stupid, they wouldn't catch a cold. It's obviously a myth because I managed to get sick _twice_ during the writing process of this fic.  
— I stumbled on a site where some bored fans found comparative RL scenes with the scenes in the anime. Since it's KyoAni we're talking about…the scenes were around Kyoto. And that's where I got the shrine name, Imamiya, from.  
— 'Mugi and the others' = 'Mugi-tachi'; something Ritsu would say if she's talking about Mugi and Azusa. Please don't ask me why I used the plural for 'other'.  
— Elizabeth is the name Yui gave for Mio's bass in the 4-koma. Mio learnt to adopt it. :3  
— Yeah, I know how different roses, lilies and lilacs look like. And I'm pretty sure Mio does too. I'm not going for physical characteristics there. ;P


End file.
